2. The Respondent was the fee earner in respect of a matter involving client K (“K”) who had claims against a landlord in respect of two matters.
The allegation was that the Respondent, in respect of one of the matters, created and backdated a letter to K’s landlord to make it appear as if work had been completed on the client file when no such work had been done.

She communicated to a colleague that she had sent the letter in question to K’s landlord on the date set out in the letter alleged to have been created.

After enquiries commenced by the Firm as to the whereabouts of the letter claimed to have been sent to the landlord on the Firm’s recording systems, the Respondent admitted that she had been mistaken about the date that the letter had been sent. She explained that she had dictated the letter on the date set out in the letter, but the letter had been sent to K’s landlord 17 days later; the day she had emailed her colleague.

The Respondent denied the allegation that she had created the letter and backdated it. She further denied that she had acted dishonestly. She asserted that she had only looked at the body of the letter that she had found on the system and had not altered or backdated it.

For the reasons set out, the Tribunal rejected the Respondent’s explanation and found the Allegation proved.