#Lawkward
A supervisor at top City-based outfit Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co was left red faced last week, when he was slammed for selling his employer’s printer toner on eBay.
Andrew Cook, from Pelsall in the West Midlands, who — according to his LinkedIn — had worked at the firm’s Birmingham office as a mapping services supervisor for over 15 years, was busted by the toner supplier, who then notified his employer.
According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Cook had received £227.34 for the printer toner, after £3 was deducted in eBay fees.
The SRA says an investigation was launched and Cook paid the money into the firm’s bank account.
A shamed Cook was dismissed by the firm in May last year, and he has now been barred from working in the legal profession in the future without permission from the SRA. The SRA blasted his conduct as dishonest, and said it “would be undesirable for him to be involved in a legal practice” in the future.
It’s a salutary reminder that you don’t have to be a solicitor to be barred from working in the solicitors’ profession.