By James Simons-
A fake barrister has been jailed after landing a chambers role and working on cases without a legal qualification.
Scott Willey worked at a chambers 4 Brick Court in London for about eight months, passing himself off as a barrister, before he was caught and exposed for his trickery.
27 year old Willey attended City Law School in London, and never graduated, was determined to pursue a career in law, despite never being called to the bar. Legal practise in the bar is compulsory before any individual with a law certificate can practise as a barrister.
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Willey failed the qualifying exams to earn a pupillage position at 4 Brick Court legal chambers in July 2016, but he claimed to have completed the Bar Vocational Course and was expecting to be called to the Bar later that year. But they were lies designed to cover the fact that he was unqualified for his “dream career”, Inner London crown court was told.
Incredibly Willey, without authority, accessed a colleague’s email account and stole a copy of a practising certificate, which he assumed as his own. The fraudster obtained a legal aid account with the fake credentials, and informed the chambers he had qualified from the Bar Professional Training Course with a mark of ‘very competent’.
He went one step further and provided another colleague’s Bar Council membership number to falsely present himself as a barrister to the Bar Standards Board and to The Chambers’. He fooled them all for 8 months, but was eventually caught in June 2018.
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Wiley was jailed last Friday for two years and three months at Inner London Crown Court. He pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation, one count of making/supplying an article for the use in fraud, one count of falsely implying to be a barrister and one offence under the computer misuse act.
Detective Constable Gary Kearley, from the City of London Police, said: ‘Willey went to extraordinary lengths to cover up his lack of qualifications and fool a professional chambers of law into hiring him as a barrister. By doing this he abused many people’s trust including his clients who looked to him for professional and legally sound advice and help.’
His offence and imprisonment shows just how sought after the law profession is, and how far Wiley was prepared to go to become a legal practitioner who got there through criminal means. As a young man, he has almost certainly ruined his entire future, and will be very lucky to be pardoned by any employer in the future.
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