Credit card: Misconduct lasted more than four and a half years
The chief operating officer of a law firm found to have used her company credit card for £300,000 of personal expenses has been disqualified from working in the profession.
Leanne Sodergren was also a director and head of finance and administration at Altrincham firm mlplaw when the firm was alerted by its bank to a suspicion of theft/fraud on its office account following suspicious transactions on her card, according to a notice published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
It said the firm’s investigations revealed that Ms Sodergren, who had taken on responsibility for reconciling and settling its credit card statements, had been using the card to make personal payments and purchases totalling more than £300,000 between November 2019 and June 2024.
Ms Sodergren admitted to the misconduct and resigned with immediate effect.
Given the dishonest conduct, the SRA has issued an order under section 99 of the Legal Services Act 2007 – as mlplaw is an alternative business structure – that disqualifies her from acting as a head of legal practice, head of finance and administration, a manager or an employee of a law firm it regulates.
She was also directed to pay costs of £600.
In a statement, mlplaw said: “Whilst there are some largely immaterial omissions in the SRA report (we identified the issue alongside being alerted by the bank), over 12 months ago we discovered a potential fraud relating to firm, office account, money.
“We immediately launched an internal investigation and resolved the matter quickly, which resulted in the termination of employment of an employee.
“We immediately engaged our external accountants and quickly established that no client monies were affected and the firm proactively notified the police and the SRA. The firm and all employees fully supported the enquiries.
“Whilst this is a regrettable incident, at the time business as usual continued and there was no impact upon our clients, suppliers or team; our services and business continued as usual for this past year and will continue to do so.
“A police investigation is ongoing and we are unable to comment further.”
Mlplaw is a full-service firm operating with more than 30 professionals in four offices, Altrincham, Lymm, Manchester and Leeds. Turnover is forecast to hit £2.5m in 2025. It celebrated its 35th anniversary last year.