STATEMENT IN RESPECT OF LAURNA PORTER
Following investigations by Glaisyers Solicitors irregular activities were discovered in 2018 on a very small number of the files managed by Laurna Porter who worked at this firm as a Probate Department member of staff. As a consequence she was summarily dismissed by this Firm 6 years ago. At the same time her activities were reported to the Police and to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Thereafter the Criminal Investigation was within the remit of Staffordshire Police CID reference DS Shorthouse based at Lichfield. The Police investigation culminated in Laurna Porter entering a guilty plea and she is likely to be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court in a couple of months’ time.
Both the Police and the Solicitors Regulatory Authority found that the illegal activities were the sole responsibility of Laurna Porter and that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by any other individual or member of staff within this firm.
In reality the Police Investigation also revealed that the vast majority of affected files involving Laurna Porter’s inappropriate behaviour were whilst she was working at Dewes Sketchley Solicitors, another legal firm in Tamworth, where she worked for nearly 10 years. She was only with Glaisyers for just over 1 year before the issues were discovered and she was summarily dismissed by this Firm
We can also confirm that we were able to make recoveries of money from Laurna Porter who personally repaid a significant sum of money back to this firm and further enforcement action has also been taken by this firm which should result in additional monies being recovered from her in due course. In any event where there is any shortfall between the amount recovered to date and the total outstanding this has been recovered by way of our legal indemnity insurance cover.
As a result we can confirm that all clients affected by these criminal actions have been notified by this firm and the Police and fully reimbursed by us. Therefore we can be confident that no client or innocent beneficiary will have lost out anything financially at all.
Glaisyers solicitors are also personally gratified and also immensely impressed and pleased with the resources and investigations of Staffordshire Police who have, in this case, acted to rigorously enforce the rule of law and professional standards to the maximum. Their investigations were comprehensive, relentless, covered several years, consulted at length with the Crown prosecution Service and were completely successful in securing justice against those involved.
We remain however appalled that Lauran Porter breached her obligations of trust not just to this Firm but to all her employers across the town but also to the vulnerable clients who had placed their faith in her over matters of legal advice.
