Paralegal texted client urging them not to cooperate with firm investigation

Filed ‘misleading’ info with land registry

A paralegal has been barred from working in the legal profession after texting a client asking them not to cooperate with a firm’s investigation into her behaviour.

Tina Spencer was employed by Mansfield outfit Hopkins Solicitors from October 2018 until July 2022 as a paralegal in its family department.

In May 2022, however, a decision posted by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) notes that Spencer filed “misleading information” with the Land Registry on behalf of a client, named only as ‘Client B’.

This, the regulator said, amounted to “dishonest” conduct.

To make matters worse, Spencer later tried to “conceal her actions by advising the client not to provide information to the firm, who were investigating her conduct”.

In particular, text messages sent by Spencer to the client were “intended to dissuade [the client] from cooperating with the investigation”.

But the issues didn’t end there. Taken on as a secretary by Bryan & Armstrong, another Mansfield outfit, in August 2022, it was found that before the end of her employment in November that year, Spencer “prepared wills for four testators in her personal capacity”. She used Bryan & Armstrong front covers bearing their name and address on each of the documents, according to the SRA finding.

This, the regulator said, amounted to attempting to “mislead” the third parties by preparing the wills, titled with Bryan & Armstrong’s name and address, despite the parties not being clients of the firm.

For her wrongdoing Spencer was handed a section 43 order. This prevents her from working for any law firm without the regulator’s prior approval.

She was also ordered to pay a proportion of the SRA’s costs of £1,350.