A solicitor has been struck off for making junior staff fake signatures in ever more elaborate attempts to fool BLM.
36-year-old Lesley Layton, a solicitor at Blackburn personal injury firm Lance Mason Solicitors, was instructed by 'GH' in a PI claim. When GH failed to provide a signed witness statement in time to meet a deadline, Layton told an employee to cut out GH's signed statement of truth from another document, place it on H's unsigned witness statement and use the photocopier to produce what would appear to be a signed statement. She emailed the forgery to BLM, the defendant's solicitors.
When Layton needed to email BLM an amended witness statement, she directed an employee to use the same method to create a signed document. But this time BLM smelled a rat and its solicitors replied asking why it appeared as if someone had cut out GH's statement of truth and replaced the date. They requested both original statements, which Layton said she would post that evening. She did, after directing an employee to trace over the photocopied signatures with a ballpoint pen so they would bear the ink and impression in the paper of genuine handwriting.
BLM instructed an expert who said the signatures were fake, and it successfully applied to strike out the claim. During the process Layton provided her own witness statements denying the expert's findings, and insisting that she had obtained GH's signature and acted honestly throughout.
In another case considered by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Layton fiddled the date of an accident so it would fall within the limitation period. When the SRA was alerted and investigated, Layton confessed and pleaded guilty to the multiple breaches which rampant forgery and lying under oath represent. The tribunal ruled that the "seriousness of her misconduct is at the highest level", and ordered her struck off. Layton said she was "thoroughly embarrassed" by her inability to fool BLM/what had happened.
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36-year-old Lesley Layton, a solicitor at Blackburn personal injury firm Lance Mason Solicitors, was instructed by 'GH' in a PI claim. When GH failed to provide a signed witness statement in time to meet a deadline, Layton told an employee to cut out GH's signed statement of truth from another document, place it on H's unsigned witness statement and use the photocopier to produce what would appear to be a signed statement. She emailed the forgery to BLM, the defendant's solicitors.
When Layton needed to email BLM an amended witness statement, she directed an employee to use the same method to create a signed document. But this time BLM smelled a rat and its solicitors replied asking why it appeared as if someone had cut out GH's statement of truth and replaced the date. They requested both original statements, which Layton said she would post that evening. She did, after directing an employee to trace over the photocopied signatures with a ballpoint pen so they would bear the ink and impression in the paper of genuine handwriting.
"There's definitely something fishy about it."* *RollOnFriday mock-up |
BLM instructed an expert who said the signatures were fake, and it successfully applied to strike out the claim. During the process Layton provided her own witness statements denying the expert's findings, and insisting that she had obtained GH's signature and acted honestly throughout.
In another case considered by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Layton fiddled the date of an accident so it would fall within the limitation period. When the SRA was alerted and investigated, Layton confessed and pleaded guilty to the multiple breaches which rampant forgery and lying under oath represent. The tribunal ruled that the "seriousness of her misconduct is at the highest level", and ordered her struck off. Layton said she was "thoroughly embarrassed" by her inability to fool BLM/what had happened.
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