Demi Christine Perrin

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

Demi Christine Perrin, a solicitor admitted in June 2022, was found (by way of an agreed outcome on the papers) to have asked a colleague to hide the file of Client A on 3 January 2023 to conceal that she had not undertaken the work, and to have made false statements to the Firm's Managing Director on 17 January 2023 about the work done and her request to hide the file. She admitted dishonesty and breaches of Principles 2, 4 and 5 and Paragraph 1.4 of the Code. The Tribunal found no exceptional circumstances and struck her off the Roll of Solicitors, with no order as to costs given her financial circumstances.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Handle inadvertently received material

Aggravating factors:

• Maintained the false pretence over a period of time (from August 2022 until May 2023)
• Repeated the false account multiple times
• Had significant time to reflect before giving her account
• Potential for significant harm to the client, staff and the practice
• Knew or ought to have known her conduct posed a risk to the client and the Firm

Mitigating factors:

• Serious ongoing physical and mental health difficulties, including multiple hospitalisations and contemplation of suicide
• Co-operation with the SRA investigation and proceedings
• Willingness to voluntarily remove herself from the Roll to save time and costs
• Genuine remorse and full admission of the allegations