Susan Irene McCarville

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

The Respondent, a Member at THP Solicitors, was found to have acted dishonestly across multiple allegations: she misled client PK into believing the firm had not received a £10,000 instalment when it had (altering a statement of account to conceal it); she withdrew £11,309.41 from another client (DK)'s account without consent to pay PK, making false entries on withdrawal/payment slips by using PK's bank details under DK's name; she failed to remedy the resulting shortage promptly (repaying from her own funds); and she misled PK into believing court proceedings had been issued when they had not. The Tribunal found all allegations including dishonesty proved on admissions and documents. Applying Twinsectra, both limbs of dishonesty were satisfied. Finding no exceptional circumstances per SRA v Sharma, the Tribunal struck her off the Roll and ordered costs of £6,183.30.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Diligence and timeliness
• Integrity
• No improper use of client money
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest conduct in several instances
• Conduct was deliberate, calculated and took place over a long period
• Concealed wrongdoing by altering a statement of account
• Entered false details on withdrawal/payment slips
• Misled client about progress of court proceedings
• Devious element - identified a client with the same surname to disguise the transfer

Mitigating factors:

• Repaid funds to DK's account from her own bank account including interest
• Cooperated with the regulator and proceedings
• Showed genuine insight and remorse
• Made open and frank admissions at an early stage
• Previously long unblemished career
• No personal benefit from the transferred funds
• Stressful period at work, personal difficulties and health issues