By Ashley Young-
A solicitor has been banned after stealing £294, 835 from a UK law firm.
Mr Young was also charged £600 of Solicitors costs.
Paul Young was employed at Berrymans Lace Mawer Service Company to work as a paralegal for Berrymans Lace Mawer LLP between 4 January 2016 and 25 June 2019 at Ling House.
As a result of his theft, it has been ruled that no solicitor shall employ or remunerate him in connection with his/her practice as a solicitor. It has also been concluded that no employee of a solicitor shall employ or remunerate him in connection with the solicitor’s practice.
The SRA also concluded that no recognised body shall employ or remunerate him, and no manager or employee of a recognised body shall employ or remunerate him in connection with the business of that body.
No criminal prosecution was made against Young in this case because it was concluded that he may have been exploited by the main culprit but was still guilty of dishonesty enough to ban him from legal industry for life. The huge amount of money stolen continues a long list of dishonest solicitors struck off for compromising their position and bringing their professional reputation to disrepute.
An SRA spokesperson said that the reason young was not fined more was because there was no evidence that he had made ill gotten gains from the dishonest act.
The spokesperson told The Eye Of Media.Com: ”where it is clear that a solicitors has made ill gotten gains from a dishonest act, they are fined accordingly. The highest case we have is of a man by the name of Nigel Harvey who was fined £305,000;;