Candidate fined & suspended after lying on CV

A University of the West of England (UWE) law graduate has been suspended from practising law for 18 months and fined £3,000 after saying she received a 2:1 degree result instead of a 2:2, Legal Cheek reports.

The ruling should serve as a cautionary tale to recruiters. The screening process should be impermeable to candidate deception – whether intentional or otherwise – as errors could now have severe repercussions.  

According to Legal Cheek, Anna Goodwin marked up her degree to secure an interview at the Army Legal Services (ALS) for the position of Legal Advisor. According to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), the job advertisement specified that applicants had “completed a qualifying degree, normally 2:1 or above.”

Goodwin amended her CV to match the criteria. However, upon a request by ALS to see her degree certificate she phoned the company’s recruitment department to justify her decision.