Executive summary |
The Respondent denied the allegations in their entirety. Whilst she accepted that she made mistakes, these had been inadvertent, not lacking integrity and not dishonest. In relation to Allegation 1.1 (“the LPA’s”), the Respondent said she did witness the signature of the donor in August 2015 on the LPAs submitted in July 2016. She may have asked the donor to sign several copies of LPAs in August 2015, so she had spares in case of any errors. She denied acting without integrity or dishonestly but accepted that she ought to have submitted entirely fresh LPAs. In respect of the matters set out in Allegation 1.2, the Respondent said that she had held virtual meetings with clients and observed them signing their deeds. She would then request that they sent the document to her either by post or email. Upon receipt she would apply her witness details. She considered this to be in accordance with acceptable Law Society practice and denied acting without integrity or dishonestly. The Tribunal found all matters proved on the balance of probabilities, save for dishonesty in relation to Allegation 1.2 which it did not find proved.
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