Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Lawyers named in charges of fraud & criminal convictions

More on the story were a lawyer who admitted a criminal offence of a £5000 childcare tax fraud.

Louise Hay - nicknamed Ally McSteal - pretended to be a single parent, despite being a mother of three childrem, and claimed cash she was not entitled to for more than two years.

Perhaps it would be a good idea for all clients to get their lawyers to declare in writing before taking on their services, they have no criminal convictions, and also disclose their regulatory history ... wouldn't want to deal with a solicitor who has a slew of client complaints for fraud, fiddling files, overcharging clients, etc .. would we now ?

link from the Sunday Mail at : http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/sport/unpdate/tm_objectid=17670488%26method=full%26siteid=64736-name_page.html

£5K FRAUD LAWYER KEEPS JOB

A LAWYER who admitted a £5000 childcare tax fraud is being allowed to continue practising.

Mum-of-three Louise Hay - nicknamed Ally McSteal - pretended to be a single parent and claimed cash she was not entitled to for more than two years.

She received £5187.78 Working Family Tax Credit by signing Inland Revenue forms with the name Hazel Mears. She was fined £750.

But the Scottish Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal have ruled Hay, 38, can remain a lawyer because there is little chance of her re-offending.

Hay, of Broughty Ferry, is expected to try to get a new job with a firm in Dundee.

The Law Society of Scotland said: "She can only act as a qualified assistant under supervision and will not handle money."

and another one .. :

Another lawyer in the news again for stealing cash - this time it's Zosia Fraser, 29, of Inverness, who worked at solicitors Joe Myles & Co.

Client's should beware of solicitors who conduct themselves in tihs manner, and seek out declarations of criminal & regulatory records before dealing with them on a client-solicitor basis

Article from the Sunday Mail, at :http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/feed/tm_objectid=17716834%26method=full%26siteid=64736-name_page.html
10 September 2006
LAWYER IS CHARGED IN CASH THEFT PROBE
By Kurt Bayer

A LAWYER has been charged with stealing cash paid to her by clients.

Zosia Fraser, 29, of Inverness, quit her post with Dundee firm Joe Myles & Co last week after detectives quizzed her.


A previous employer claimed they caught her taking payments from clients and keeping them.

Fraser - who specialised in domestic law - now faces the Scottish Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

She was previously found guilty by them of forging a note from her GP saying she had suffered a miscarriage to cover absence.

Fraser was ordered to spend an extra year in her traineeship as punishment.

Ex-boss Joe Myles said: "Miss Fraser finished her employment with me. She voluntarily gave up her position with my firm.

"Anything she has been questioned about relates to things that happened before she joined us."

Tayside Police said: "A 29-year-old female has been charged and reported to the Procurator Fiscal in connection with financial irregularities alleged to have taken place at a business premises in Dundee."

Last night, Fraser refused to comment.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In response to a posting giving information on Zosia Fraser's term at Muir Myles Laverty and alleged experiences while working for that firm, if the anonymous poster who posted the original comment would like to make further comments via this comment section to the authors of this blog, matters will be looked into and confidentiality will be respected.

Any further comments on this matter will not be published until such matters alleged in previous comments are publicly addressed. If Ms Fraser wishes to contact the authors of this blog, she can do so via email or via posting a comment and marking it "not for publication".