Date
23 June 2022
Decision
Exclusion – fixed period
Charges
The Disciplinary Tribunal (DT) considered the following charges of professional misconduct against Florence Lungu (CILEx Associate – Apprentice):
Charge 1
Florence Lungu failed to maintain high standards of professional and personal conduct and justify public trust in herself, her profession, and the provision of legal services, contrary to Principle 2, Outcome 2.2 of the CILEx Code of Conduct 2019.
Charge 2
Florence Lungu failed to behave with honesty and integrity, contrary to Principle 3, Outcome 3.1 and 3.2 of the CILEx Code of Conduct 2019.
The Particulars for both Charges, are that between 11 July 2018 and 1 January 2019, whilst employed as a Paralegal at Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP, Ms Lungu recorded time on matters for a client when she had not carried out the work in question, and on two occasions inflated the time which she had spent carrying out an activity. This resulted in the client being overcharged by £711 which the firm subsequently reimbursed.
In consequence, the SRA found Ms Lungu had acted dishonestly and made her the subject of a Control Order under Section 43 of the Solicitors Act 1974 (as amended) prohibiting her from working in a legal practice without the SRA’s permission. It was found that Ms Lungu’s conduct was dishonest
Outcome
The DT found the charges proven on the balance of probabilities.
Sanction
The DT ordered that the Respondent be hence forth excluded from membership of the Chartered Institute for a period of 12 months. After the period of exclusion has expired, the Respondent’s membership of CILEx will not automatically be reinstated, and she will have to reapply for Membership.
