Katherine Gilroy

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

Katherine Gilroy, a newly qualified assistant solicitor, deliberately concealed from her client, supervisor and counsel a series of letters and two court orders from opposing solicitors (Carpenters) concerning costs owed by her client over a 7-month period. She prepared misleading draft letters and emails, and deliberately used an incorrect email address to give the impression she had sent a letter to Carpenters when she had not, misleading both her supervisor and client. Her conduct led to an interim charging order and restriction on the client's property. The matter was resolved by Agreed Outcome on the papers. The SRA withdrew the dishonesty allegation in exchange for the Respondent's undertaking not to apply for restoration to the Roll; the Tribunal made no express finding of dishonesty but found breaches of Principles 2, 4 and 6, including a very serious lack of integrity. She was struck off and ordered to pay costs of £3,301.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• Handle inadvertently received material

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Conduct spanned a 7-month period
• Conduct involved misleading her principal, client and counsel
• She concealed wrongdoing by preparing a misleading letter and purporting to send it
• She ought to have known conduct breached obligations to protect public and reputation of profession
• Potential harm to client's creditworthiness through interim charging order and restriction on property

Mitigating factors:

• Suffered from work-related anxiety and depression supported by medical evidence
• Newly qualified solicitor carrying significant responsibility with inadequate support
• Overwhelmed with excessive workload in small firm
• Self-reported to the SRA
• Cooperated fully with the SRA investigation
• No financial benefit from wrongdoing
• Otherwise unblemished regulatory record
• Expressed remorse, apology and insight
• Voluntarily left the legal profession