‘Lack of integrity’
A fee earner has been barred from working in the legal profession after sending confidential client information to his personal email ahead of switching firms.
Patrick Maginn worked on housing disrepair cases at Liverpool-based Bond Turner for five months before leaving for nearby outfit McDermott Smith Law in November 2023. Just before his departure, Maginn sent himself around 50 emails containing client information, internal templates and workflow documents — all without the firm’s consent.
He later forwarded many of the files to his new work email and used some of them in his new role at McDermott Smith Law, according to the regulator’s published decision.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said Maginn had shown “a lack of integrity” and “no proper regard for the proprietary nature” of his former firm’s materials, alongside a “lack of any understanding” of client confidentiality. It concluded that his behaviour represented “a serious departure from the high ethical standards” expected of those working in law firms.
The regulator imposed a Section 43 order, meaning Maginn cannot work in any SRA-regulated firm without its prior approval. He was also ordered to pay £600 in costs.
Maginn had already been found guilty of contempt of court last year, after Bond Turner brought a civil case against him. He was handed a four-month suspended sentence, on the condition that he complied with a court order to delete the confidential information he had taken.
McDermott Smith went into administration last year with reported debts of over £37 million.
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