Isolated incident
A junior solicitor has been suspended from practice for 12 months after admitting he altered correspondence with a client in what he described as a “moment of panic”.
Michael Goodwin, 40, joined Talbots Law in 2021 and had been qualified for less than two years when he mistakenly sent an email to the wrong address in a residential property matter.
Instead of immediately admitting the error, he amended the forwarded version the following day to make it appear it had been correctly sent first time round, writing: “I understand you’ve not received the attached.”
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) found his dishonesty was confined to a single email and accepted it was a “brief, isolated incident rather than a prolonged or sustained act”. No harm was caused to the client.
The tribunal noted the misconduct brought “minimum benefit” to Goodwin, beyond perhaps sparing him some embarrassment over the initial mistake or the consequences of potential data breach.
Goodwin admitted the alteration at an internal meeting three months later, before resigning from the firm and self-reporting to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). He accepted at the time that “he knew it was wrong and should not have done it”.
In mitigation — which the SRA did not accept — Goodwin said he had been under considerable emotional strain and struggling with the pressures of practice. Additional medical evidence was heard in private.
The SRA said the conduct was deliberate but carried out “in panic and haste”, stressing that Goodwin had shown remorse, made “open and frank admissions” and cooperated with the regulator throughout the investigation.
He agreed to a 12-month suspension and to pay £12,500 towards the SRA’s costs.
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