Lawyer provided fake obituary to justify bereavement leave

A lawyer resigned from her job and left the profession after faking an obituary to justify taking bereavement leave.

She has admitted misconduct and has now been censured by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for lying to her employer.

A newly released tribunal decision says Kelly Anne Jamieson reported herself to the Law Society after her dishonesty was discovered, and has sought professional help.

She has not worked since, and is on a sickness benefit, the decision said.

Her name is not currently on the Law Society register published online.

The dates of the incident were not disclosed in the tribunal decision, but it said that Jamieson lied to her employer about needing to take bereavement leave.

“The lie was compounded by her falsification of an obituary for her late sister-in-law who had died, but approximately two years previously.”

Jamieson had only just learned of her sister-in-law’s death and was horrified it had been concealed from her by her family, from whom she was estranged.

She felt ashamed to be in that position and distressed by the news.

The tribunal said this prevented her from doing what she ought to have, which was to explain the situation to her employer and ask for time off to process what she had learned.

“Shortly after taking some time off, Ms Jamieson was pressed by her employers for more details about her absence,” the tribunal decision said.

“At this point she foolishly chose to ‘double down’, as described by her counsel, and created a false obituary which she gave to her employers.”

The dishonesty was quickly discovered by cross-checking and, on being confronted with it, Jamieson admitted her fault and resigned from the firm.

A standards committee which investigated her case found that there was nothing to suggest Jamieson was not otherwise a competent lawyer.

She had a clean prior disciplinary record for the 20 years she had practised.

Although anything less than “absolute integrity and honesty” was unacceptable in a legal practitioner, the tribunal said Jamieson’s conduct was over a very short time frame, and was immediately acknowledged when challenged.

There had been no complaint by her former employer, and her conduct would not have come to the tribunal’s attention had she not reported it herself.

No client was harmed or even indirectly involved.

The tribunal issued a censure which it said would be “a permanent reminder” on her record if she decided to return to the profession.

Jamieson was also ordered to pay $6746 in costs to the standards committee, and $2407 in costs to the Law Society.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.