Hilary Rowlands

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

Hilary Rowlands, a non-solicitor employed as an accounts clerk at Doberman Horsman solicitors, dishonestly paid herself £3,232.13 in unauthorised overtime payments over 25 months without authorisation. The Tribunal found the allegation substantiated and made a Section 43 order restricting her employment within the solicitors' profession, and ordered her to pay costs of £499.37. She did not appear but had co-operated and admitted the payments.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Abuse of a position of trust
• Payments made repeatedly over a 25-month period

Mitigating factors:

• Fully co-operative with the disciplinary proceedings
• Admitted the unauthorised payments when confronted
• Stated she had avoided and did not intend to seek work in a solicitor's office again