Katherine Anne Edwards

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

The Respondent, a trainee solicitor at the time, signed two lasting powers of attorney certificates in the name of the senior partner without authority, disguising her handwriting, and later failed to disclose this in her application for admission as a solicitor. The Tribunal found both allegations proved, including admitted dishonesty under the Twinsectra test. Despite exceptional mitigation and glowing references, the Tribunal found no exceptional circumstances under Sharma to depart from the usual sanction and struck her off the Roll, ordering agreed costs of £2,000.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Two separate instances several months apart
• Forged the signature of a partner (senior partner PJS) twice on important documents
• Disguised her handwriting and did not qualify signatures
• Failed to disclose the misconduct on her admission application, allowing admission to proceed
• Certification was intended to protect vulnerable donors; clear scope for harm

Mitigating factors:

• Self-reported the misconduct to the SRA
• Admitted allegations from the outset, before legal advice
• Genuine remorse and apologies
• Young and inexperienced trainee (26) working under a locum supervisor who also missed certification requirement
• No personal gain and no actual harm to clients
• Exceptional character references, including from the partner whose signature was forged, and strong client satisfaction surveys