Ban for paralegal who stole £294,000 from law firm

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By Thomas Connelly on

Former BLM employee ‘acted dishonestly’, says regulator

A paralegal has been barred from working in the legal profession by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) after it found he had stolen almost £294,000 from his former employers.

Paul Young worked in the Manchester office of insurance law heavyweight Berrymans Lace Mawer (BLM) between January 2016 and June 2019, during which time he stole £293,834, according to an SRA notice published this month. No further details were provided.

The regulator found that Young, whose current employment status is unknown, had “acted dishonestly”.

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Young has now been slapped with a section 43 order, which prevents him from working in a law firm without prior permission from the SRA. He must also pay the regulator’s cost of £600.

A spokesperson for BLM said: “We can confirm that an individual employed by BLM was dismissed last year when it was established that their actions breached both their contract of employment and the SRA’s code of conduct.”

They continued:

“The individual is not a solicitor but their conduct was immediately reported to the SRA. The matter is now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation. We therefore cannot provide any further comment at this time.”

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