IT Professional Deleted Over Equipment Theft

On 23rd September 2022, a story hit the legal press headlines which should serve as a warning to those aspiring for a career in the legal profession or those who are established. It came to light that a legal professional had been prevented from operating within the profession after evidence came to light that he had misappropriated just short of twenty-five.

What Happened In The Case?

The legal professional had been working in a Nottingham-based provider of legal services in the I.T. Department and presumably playing a crucial world of the modern provider of legal services where the vast majority of life revolves around computer systems and in this regard I.T. professionals are at the heart of everything a firm does and they are in the most trusted and respected of positions. In this particular example, this IT Professional had been employed by the provider and his career appears to have been largely successful as evidenced by the fact that he had achieved the title of IT Engineer and had been employed for around one year and a half. 

However, matters seem to have come to a head when computer equipment such as ten laptop computers, just shy of smartphones, and various data storage devices had gone missing from the firm’s storage room which apparently was fitted with advanced security features and interestingly the IT Professional was one of the chosen few persons employed within the firm to have the opportunity to access the restricted secure space. 

How Did The IT Professional Respond?

When the IT Professional was confronted and presented with the compelling evidence against him he submitted a denial to the allegations posed by the legal services provider, claimed he did not know anything about it, and extraordinarily submitted that he had not accessed the secure area of the IT Department or the Business Manager program used by the firm for a period.

Truth Will Out

However, just like snow in a heatwave, the IT Professional’s story failed to stack up in the face of the heat of scrutiny. In the face of overwhelming evidence, he found himself running out of the road and with no feasible alternative but to plead guilty to the allegations and handed himself into the nearest police station. When he was grilled by the police authorities on the thefts, the IT Professional threw himself at the mercy of the authorities and claimed that he committed the acts of dishonesty primarily due to a compulsion to be which had seemingly engulfed his life and occupied his thoughts. He claimed that the habit provided him with a break from reality, and became uncontrollable and destructive. He submitted that as a result of his gambling habit he had seemingly taken action to decommission the misappropriated assets and as a result they were irretrievable. However, this appears to have been given short sharp shrift by the England and Wales criminal courts who handed down a suspended prison sentence to the IT Professional. The IT Professional now has to carry the shame of having to outlay just shy of four hundred pounds of costs and one hundred and fifty pounds of costs to the victim. He was also ordered to do more than one hundred and fifty hours of uncompensated work.

Lessons Learned?

Those operating in law firms in whatever capacity should be:

• avoiding a situation whereby they are considering misappropriating property and machinery belonging to their employers
• being a responsible upstanding member of the workforce who can be trusted not to steal equipment that belong to the employer 
• acting truthfully at all times by not getting involved in such incidents 
• not be denying involvement in these types of incidents.

ASSESSING FIRMS

#AddleshawGoddard #CMS #EvershedsSutherland #DLAPiper #PinsentMasons #Shoosmiths #Brabners #DACBeachcroft #DavittJonesBould #DWF #GateleyPlc #HillDickinsonLLP #JMWSolicitors #KuitSteinartLevyLLP #Mills&Reeve #SquirePattonBoggs #TLT #Clyde&Co #BrownJacobsen

THE ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN USING THE FOLLOWING SOURCES 

[SOURCE 1] Sherdley, Rebecca – Gambling addict ‘hit self-destruct button when he stole from a law firm – Nottingham Post – 4 February 2022 - Gambling addict 'hit self-destruct button when he stole from a law firm - Nottinghamshire Live (nottinghampost.com)

[SOURCE 2] Hyde, John – ‘SRA bans a thief and a forger who had been with leading firms’ – 23 September 2022 – Law Society Gazette - SRA bans a thief and a forger who had been with leading firms | News | Law Gazette

[SOURCE 3] Rose, Neil – SRA bans IT worker convicted of stealing hardware from a law firm – 23 September 2022 – Legal Futures - SRA bans IT worker convicted of stealing hardware from a law firm - Legal Futures