Zara Dee
Simpson
Employee
7263011
Decision - Employee-related decision
Outcome: Control of non-qualified staff (Section 43 / Section 99 order)
Outcome date: 23 September 2025
Published date: 29 September 2025
Firm details
Firm or organisation at time of matters giving rise to outcome
Name: Walker Morris LLP
Address(es): 33 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 4DL
Firm ID: 508263
Outcome details
This outcome was reached by SRA decision.
Decision details
Who does this decision relate to?
Ms Simpson whose last known address was in Essex.
A person who is or was involved in a legal practice but is not a solicitor.
Summary of decision
The SRA has put restrictions on where and how Ms Simpson can work in an SRA regulated firm. It was found that:
Ms Simpson, who is not a solicitor, was involved in a legal practice and has occasioned or been a party to an act or default which involved such conduct on her part that it is undesirable for her to be involved in a legal practice in any of the ways described in the order below.
The facts of the case
Ms Simpson was employed as a personal assistant by Walker Morris LLP.
Ms Simpson misled the firm by stating that she has allocated £250 of a colleague's wedding collection to her honeymoon fund via weddingshop.com, when she had retained the money in her own bank account.
Decision on outcome
An order pursuant to section 43(2) of the Solicitors Act 1974 was imposed as Ms Simpson's conduct meant that it was undesirable for her to be involved in a legal practice without the SRA's prior approval. The order pursuant to section 43 was made with effect from the date of the letter or email notifying Ms Simpson of this decision:
Ms Simpson's conduct was serious because it was dishonest.
Ms Simpson was also ordered to pay a proportion of the SRA's costs of £600.
What our Section 43 order means
- no solicitor shall employ or remunerate her in connection with his/her practice as a solicitor;
- no employee of a solicitor shall employ or remunerate her in connection with the solicitor's practice;
- no recognised body shall employ or remunerate her;
- no manager or employee of a recognised body shall employ or remunerate her in connection with the business of that body;
- no recognised body or manager or employee of such a body shall permit her to be a manager of the body; and
- no recognised body or manager or employee of such a body shall permit her to have an interest in the body
except in accordance with the SRA's prior written permission.