The woman was prosecuted for the theft and sentenced to 12 months’ home detention last year.
Then, in April this year, she came before the disciplinary tribunal having accepted her “serious misconduct”.
Her identity is permanently suppressed to protect the reputation of her former Auckland employer.
The decision said that at the time of the theft, the woman had been working at the law firm for just under a year.
She had also been living with her partner at his family’s home for some time, and they were under pressure to move out and buy their own.
Her partner knew she had money from investing in the digital currency Bitcoin “some years earlier”, the decision said.
When the couple agreed to buy a house, she tried to free up her Bitcoin funds but found it difficult, and she feared she had been scammed.
Feeling “under pressure”, the decision said, she kept her financial struggles secret from everyone, including her partner, and wired $170,000 of client money to one of her own accounts.
She used that money to pay the deposit on her new home, and as the settlement approached, she transferred a further $1,206,000 to her account.
The legal secretary believed she would pay it back with her Bitcoin before anyone noticed it was gone.
She immediately felt guilty and remorseful for her actions but kept her secret until February of last year, the decision stated.
The guilt had become too much, and she became so distressed at the “line she had crossed” that she disappeared for a weekend.
Her concerned partner contacted the woman’s employer in search of her, and this drew attention to her situation.
When she was confronted by partners at the firm, she did not admit to taking the money, instead focusing on confessing her relationship woes.
But the next day, in a meeting with her bosses, she admitted stealing the money and was dismissed.
Paid back ‘every cent’
At the tribunal hearing in April, Saunders said his client had paid back “every cent” she stole as well as the firm’s insurance and legal fees.
However, Saunders said the woman wished to keep the source of that money private.
“She’s been in this situation before, when people discover she has money; pressure comes on,” Saunders said.
“It’s that pressure that she’s trying to avoid.”
It was discussed whether she should be barred from working in law again or allowed to seek the tribunal’s permission for similar work.
Saunders argued for the latter.
The woman accepted the breach of trust and emotional impact her misconduct had on the firm, the lawyer said.
However, Saunders said, the woman was already facing the long-term consequences of her dishonesty, including struggling to get insurance for her car.
“Every morning she wakes up, it is part of her life,” Saunders said.
She hadn’t forgiven herself and didn’t expect anyone else to forgive her either, he said.
“Is there a capacity for a more merciful approach in this instance?” he asked the tribunal.
The decision said that “to her credit” the woman had fronted up and admitted her wrongdoing almost straight away.
The tribunal was satisfied with how “out of character” the misconduct was, taking into account that the woman had already been punished in court.
Instead of barring her from working as a legal employee in the future, it ruled that if she wished to do so, she would need the written consent of the tribunal.
She was ordered to pay $5433 to the Law Council Standards Committee and $4108 of tribunal costs.
Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland, covering justice-related stories.