Top London chambers fails in bid to keep £2.75 million theft secret

Avatar photo

By Legal Cheek on

4

Cash allegedly stolen by former manager of Pump Court Chambers

Barristers wig and money
Pump Court Chambers has failed in its attempt to keep secret an alleged fraud in which one of its former managers reportedly stole £2.75 million from the set over a five-year period, according to High Court documents.

The top London set had argued that making the allegations public would “put at risk the integrity of the chambers as a going concern”, and its “high-earning barristers” might decide to leave.

But a deputy High Court judge disagreed, stating that an order to keep the matter private “was not necessary either to secure the proper administration of justice or to protect the interests of Pump Court Chambers”.

The judge noted that the set’s barristers are “now aware” of the extent of the alleged fraud and that “former members of the chambers, and indeed solicitors’ firms having dealings with PCC, might want to know of the problem at the earliest opportunity”.

“On balance, I do not, in the circumstances of this case, see that the risk to the freezing and disclosure exercise makes it necessary for the matter to be heard in private so as to secure the proper administration of justice, or to avoid defeating the purpose of the hearing,” the judge concluded.

The 2024 Legal Cheek Chambers Most List

The case revolves around Gillian Brown, also known as Gillian Goodfield, who served as the credit control manager at the set until June of this year. In her role, Brown oversaw a bank account where barristers’ fees were deposited. Upon her departure, it was discovered that £2.75 million was missing from the account.

High Court papers show that the chambers successfully secured a freezing injunction against Goodfield, who “produced an affidavit in which she candidly admitted to her wrongdoing” and “now bitterly regretted it”.

Pump Court Chambers is home to 127 barristers, including 7 silks, and covers a wide range of civil, criminal, and family work.

In a statement it said: “Pump Court Chambers has discovered it has been the victim of a fraud by a former member of staff. This fraud took place some time ago and did not impact upon the operational running of chambers.”

It continued:

“Upon discovery we took immediate and decisive recovery action. We are pursuing all legal avenues vigorously. Chambers takes theft and fraud extremely seriously and has put in place new systems to address any future risks.”

“Please rest assured that it is business as usual for our barristers and dedicated and trustworthy clerks, who remain fully committed to providing the highest standard of service to our clients. We appreciate your continued support during this time. As the matter is now in the hands of the police, we are unable to comment further at this time.”

Pump Court Chambers is not to be confused with any of the other similarly named sets. To be clear, this article is not related in any way to One Pump Court or other barristers’ chambers who occupy (or used to occupy) Pump Court within Temple.

4 Comments

Al

When you do the Direct Access course you have to list benefits of operating that way.

They’ll have to add “Vague chance of actually keeping onto the fee” to the list.

Engelbert Pumpernickel

She PUMPed out the cash… now she’s going to COURT!

Dan Neidle Enjoyer

Always fascinated by DN’s discoveries

Anon

“Top” London Chambers

Join the conversation

Related Stories

Courtroom door

Judge jailed for role in £1.8m legal aid fraud

Worked with group of 'corrupt legal professionals'

Jun 28 2024 8:44am
11

Former City lawyer jailed over £600k frauds

Joshua Brien previously worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat and US law firm Cooley

Sep 14 2021 9:58am