Paula Hall
Allegation / charges
Criminal Convictions
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Paula Hall, a solicitor's clerk (secretary/personal assistant) employed by Messrs. Marcus-Barnett, abused her supervisory role over outdoor clerks. She authorised payment of invoices for work not done by a clerk and for a non-existent clerk, with returned cheques endorsed through her own bank account, taking an estimated £30,000. She also authorised payments to her daughter working under an assumed name, claimed overtime for duties not performed, and was alleged to have stolen a safe deposit box of jewellery. She was convicted on her own confession of six theft offences. The Tribunal found the allegation substantiated and made a Section 43(2) order, ordering her to pay costs of £384.82.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Conduct involved dishonesty over a period of nearly two years
- Abuse of a position of responsibility/supervisory role over outdoor clerks
- Substantial sum taken, estimated at around £30,000