Arguably, she was just following the blurb on Pinsent Masons' grad rec page.
The SRA has prohibited a paralegal from working in the legal profession after she lied to Pinsent Masons about being a newly qualified solicitor.
Ketevan (or Katie) Nakaidze worked in the Finance & Projects team at Pinsent Masons between April and August 2022. When she applied for the role, and during her time at the firm, the paralegal let the firm believe that she was due to qualify as a solicitor in spring 2022 and had applied for a practising certificate, when that was not true.
In a decision published on its website, the SRA found that the paralegal had "repeatedly and dishonestly" told Pinsent Masons, or allowed the firm to believe, that she would be or was a NQ solicitor from March 2022.
The SRA said that the paralegal's conduct was "serious" and that it was "undesirable for her to be involved in a legal practice" without its approval.
The regulator made a Section 43 Order against Nakaidze which bars her from working in the profession unless a firm applies successfully to the SRA for permission to employ her. The SRA also ordered that Nakaidze pay its costs of £600.
A spokesperson for Pinsent Masons told RollOnFriday, “Ms Nakaidze originally joined Pinsent Masons as a paralegal, on the understanding that she was expecting to be admitted to the roll of solicitors England & Wales within a few weeks of starting at the firm".
“As part of our due diligence, we followed up with Ms Nakaidze on several occasions after her start date," the spokesperson said.
"However, it became clear that no application had been made to the SRA. As such, we took immediate action to remove Ms Nakaidze from her post and reported the incident to the SRA.”
Comments
42
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If she isn't actually a solicitor, what grounds does the SRA have to make a costs order against her?
24
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You wonder how long she thought she’d be able to get away with this, particularly in a firm that no doubt does bulk renewal of practicing certificates each year for their solicitors…
34
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Because she worked for a regulated entity and is bound by the Principles which apply to everyone not just solicitors.
22
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my experience of the ‘onboarding’ process at firms suggest that they didn’t actually do their due diligence until she’d been hired.
73
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I’m confused. This was the entire plot of Suits and yet you do it in real life and the haters hate on you?
28
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so, as a partner, you steal 64 million quid and the SRA allow you to take over a number of firms, but lets just completely ruin a junior paralegal trying to get on in life.
14
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what a fucking useless regulator - lets give costs orders to measly paralegals but not stop a crook acquiring loads of firms and then try and force solicitors as a whole to pay for our cock up.
6
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Fladgate John Evans i think it’s not a lawyer and when you read on web it’s very confusing
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I, for one, think it’s right that our diligent regulator should throw the book at this paralegal. Faith in the profession is at an all time low and it’s due to individuals like this.