A solicitor jailed for making an internet search during a trial where she was a juror has been suspended for eight years.
Caroline Mitchell, who had a previously unblemished 25-year record as a solicitor, served four weeks in prison after admitting to disclosing information to other jury members in March 2021.
She had been sitting on a jury for a trial involving allegations of historical sexual abuse offences. The case involved discussion of the dimensions of a property and Mitchell was directed by the trial judge that she should not carry out any independent research.
A clerk of the court reported that they saw Mitchell in the jury room with her iPad open on a Rightmove internet page: they also heard her discussing this page with one of the fellow jurors. The entire jury was discharged and the trial aborted.
Appearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last month, the SRA said Mitchell had jeopardised the case, caused a costly retrial and failed to maintain public trust in the solicitors’ profession. The complainant and defendant had to wait eight months for a new trial and had to give evidence a second time.
The tribunal heard that Mitchell had spent her entire career with Irwin Mitchell until her resignation in 2022. She said that during the trial she had been looking at Rightmove for other reasons and without thinking about the consequences, she had searched for the address mentioned during the trial and taken a screenshot.
She stressed her actions were not a deliberate act to defy the judge’s warnings but a momentary mistake at the end of a hard day sitting on a difficult case.
During her imprisonment, she was terrified and advised by prison officers to ‘keep her head down’. But she used her time to assist other inmates with family matters and writing CVs and found it to be an opportunity for self-reflection. She has not worked since her release but volunteers with two organisations and works with vulnerable adults.
Mitchell said she was ‘mortified’ at letting everyone down but wanted to return to practice as she felt she had a lot to offer. The sentencing judge in her case noted that the 16 character references made to the court showed how valued she was by colleagues and her community.
The tribunal accepted she was trying to obtain a just outcome in the trial and did not intend to cause it to be delayed. But she was also an experienced solicitor who understood her duties and breached the trust placed in her. The misconduct did not justify a strike-off, but the tribunal ruled it was not appropriate for Mitchell to be allowed to practise during her 10 years’ disqualification from jury service. She was therefore suspended for eight years and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.
