Lorraine Keogh

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

Lorraine Keogh, a secretary/personal assistant (solicitors' clerk) at Freeman Pollard, altered a salary cheque from £100 to £1000; the alteration was intercepted by the bank and the firm suffered no loss. She was summarily dismissed and had held herself out as a trainee/qualified solicitor. The Tribunal found the allegation substantiated and expressly found her to be a dishonest clerk. It made the Section 43 Order sought, barring her employment by a solicitor without Law Society permission, and ordered her to pay costs of £1,752.14. The respondent did not appear and was not represented.

Duties found breached:

• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Hold a current practising certificate
• Honour professional undertakings

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty (forgery/alteration of cheque)
• Held herself out falsely as a trainee and qualified solicitor

Mitigating factors:

• Firm suffered no loss as the cheque was intercepted
• Respondent provided an apology