Senior associate struck off after trying to involve junior in dishonest conduct

A former Irwin Mitchell senior associate has been struck off after admitting to deliberately misleading the other side in a family law case, and attempting to involve a junior colleague.

Kirsten Tomlinson, who worked as a senior associate in Irwin Mitchell’s Manchester family team, was struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs.

According to a judgment published last week, the misconduct arose from a matter in September 2023. The tribunal heard that Tomlinson emailed the opposing party - who was unrepresented - saying that once a signed and completed D81 form was received, her client’s court application would be withdrawn. In reality, no application had been issued.

Days later, Tomlinson instructed a junior paralegal colleague who had been working on the file to tell the other side that an application had been made and would be withdrawn once signed documents were received.

Tomlinson’s internal email said: "Tell him client says we will withdraw our application to court as soon as we receive the signed docs from him (he doesn't know we haven't issued.... we just led him to believe we did)."

The paralegal did not follow the instruction and instead raised concerns with a partner at the firm, who escalated the issue to Tomlinson’s supervising partner, triggering an internal investigation later that day.

No excuse for dishonesty

Tomlinson admitted the allegations and accepted her conduct was dishonest.

She said she had been acting on her client’s instructions and out of frustration with the length of proceedings. The tribunal found that neither explanation excused her conduct, saying: "Solicitors must act honestly and advise clients appropriately; client instructions do not justify dishonesty."

The tribunal said Tomlinson admitted she had knowingly misled an unrepresented opposing party on two occasions and had attempted to draw a junior colleague into that conduct. The misconduct was deliberate and repeated, leaving no room for a sanction short of strike-off.

Tomlinson was admitted as a solicitor in 2010 and joined Irwin Mitchell in 2020. She left the firm shortly after the incident and later moved to Brabners, where she worked until April 2025.