An Aylesbury lawyer who made up boastful Facebook posts about court victories that never happened has been suspended from practice.
Irina Schwab, who ran Schwab & Co Legal Services in Temple Square, admitted to making several made-up posts on social media to promote her firm.
Ms Schwab was taken to a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on January 13, which heard that she made the fictitious posts about courts she had not even been to in an effort to drum up business.
One post read: “Great result at Cambridge Magistrates Court! So pleased and proud to be able to represent our client, who eventually managed to prove her innocence!!
Another said: “Double win today! Watford Family Court – successfully fought and suspended a prohibited steps order preventing a mother to leave the jurisdiction with the children.”
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When she was interviewed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority about the posts, she admitted that they were “just pure marketing.”
Ms Schwab said: “Yeah, it's probably marketing or going there for other purposes or visiting and it’s just pure marketing.
“They are incorrect, they are marketing like showing off if you want.
“I wasn’t there.”
The tribunal also heard that Ms Schwab’s firm, which she ran with her husband Adrian Schwab, was operating without Solicitors Regulation Authority authorisation.
Schwab & Co also had an unregulated bank account that contained up to £87,000 of client money – all of which was potentially at risk.
The report from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal stated that the funds were “in jeopardy.”
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The firm, of which Ms Schwab was the sole shareholder, had conducted 911 separate matters between 2015 and 2020 on personal injury, criminal, family and immigration cases.
The tribunal heard in mitigation that Ms Schwab did not deliberately breach solicitor rules, but did so without fully understanding the guidelines.
Ms Schwab agreed to be suspended from legal practice for six months and was also made subject to a two-year restriction order prohibiting her from managing any legal firm.
The solicitor must also pay £15,000 in costs.
The report concluded: “The posting of inaccurate and/or misleading information in these circumstances… indicates a lack of integrity on the part of the Respondent (Ms Schwab).
“Conduct of this nature amounts to a breach by the Respondent of the requirement to behave in a way which maintains the trust placed by the public in them and in the provision of legal services.”
Schwab & Co has been approached for comment.
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