A former senior associate at Irwin Mitchell, Natasha Janet Dionne Fairs, has been removed from the roll of solicitors after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal declared that she submitted time sheets that were inaccurate, misleading and inflated, including one day in which she said she worked more than 23 hours.
Background
Fairs, who joined Irwin Mitchell in 2007, admitted she falsified billing records over many years, as confirmed in an SDT ruling. The tribunal learned that she sometimes added extra hours on difficult cases even after bills had been finalised or on fixed-fee files where extra recorded hours would end up being written off.
Discovery and Recorded Excessive Hours
Concerns raised by her two co-workers started a billing review, and it revealed over-recording. The review also uncovered where Fairs recorded five hours in the time system, despite only five six-minute units appearing in the case file, a situation that appeared deliberate. If you need a London law firm, companies such as https://www.forsters.co.uk/ can offer help and advice.
Personal Reasons
Fairs apologised and accepted responsibility before the firm and the SDT. She said she was under stress, coping with her mother’s serious illness and death, homeschooling in the pandemic and managing a heavy low-value workload. However, the Solicitors Regulation Authority did not accept these mitigating factors as a good enough reason.
Outcome
The Solicitors Disciplinary Service struck Fairs off the roll and ordered her to pay £5,200 in costs. The official decision has been documented in the SDT case register.
