Heather Roberts

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

Heather Roberts, a senior associate solicitor at Irwin Mitchell LLP, deleted five email chains from the firm's case management system on 29 December 2021 concerning Client A's complaint, concealing her involvement in amendments to Particulars of Claim and deflecting blame onto a junior colleague she supervised. She notably retained one email that reflected favourably on her while deleting others that did not. The Tribunal found she acted with conscious intent and dishonestly under the Ivey test, breaching Principles 2, 4 and 5 and paragraph 3.5(a) of the Code. Although dishonesty ordinarily leads to strike-off, the Tribunal found exceptional circumstances (limited duration, moment of madness at a time of ill health, out of character, no gain or loss, no sophisticated cover-up) placing it in the small residual category. She was suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay costs of £24,948.70.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Supervise staff and delegated work

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty involving selective deletion of emails to shape the narrative and deflect blame onto a junior colleague
• Experienced solicitor
• Element of basic planning in deleting emails to hide involvement
• Equivocal insight - answer suggested she would act differently mainly to avoid appearing before the Tribunal

Mitigating factors:

• Isolated incident occurring nearly 5 years ago
• Previously unblemished career and impeccable character with glowing references
• No financial gain and no actual harm to the client
• Adverse health/mental illness and significant work pressure at the relevant time
• Minimal risk of repetition
• No sophisticated concealment - deletions easily discovered
• Full cooperation with proceedings and agreement to evidence
• Completed relevant training courses showing insight