Anita Barnett

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Anita Barnett, a senior in-house solicitor at County Council A in the adult social care team, was alleged to have submitted an amended witness statement of Karen Webb to the High Court on 12 June 2019 without obtaining Mrs Webb's express confirmation of the amendments and without notifying the court that the version had not been seen or approved by Mrs Webb. The SRA alleged this was dishonest, alternatively reckless, breaching Principles 2 and 6 and failing to achieve Outcome 5.1. The Tribunal found the factual allegations proven (the Respondent admitted them) but found she genuinely believed she had authority from Mrs Webb to make the amendments (supported by a paralegal's file note and a collaborative culture of preparing statements and delegating electronic signatures), and that her amendments were not material and were made to improve clarity and accuracy under significant work pressure with a looming deadline. The Tribunal found no dishonesty (applying Ivey and Maxfield-Martin), no recklessness, no breach of integrity, and no manifest incompetence breaching Principle 6. All allegations were dismissed, no sanction was imposed, and the Tribunal made no order as to costs, rejecting the Respondent's £22,914 costs application against the SRA on the basis the proceedings were properly brought and not fundamentally flawed.

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]