Solicitor struck off for lying about degree classification on his CV

When questioned, he claimed he had “created a persona that he thought was required for a role in private practice.”

Vishal Patel faced allegations of dishonesty after submitting CVs to recruiters and law firms with inflated degree classifications, incorrect dates and even the incorrect university.

Allegation 1 – CV submitted to Robert Walters, a recruitment agency, which was then forwarded on to Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP (SPB).

The actual CV has not been made public, however in an email from Robert Walters recruitment agency to SPB, the CV was summarised as: “First class honours in LLB, Very Competent in the BPTC and also has the LLM.” Following a review of the CV.

Mr Patel then interviewed at SPB and an offer of employment was made subject to pre-employment checks via a third party, Vero Screening Limited (VSL).

Mr Patel accepted and completed VSL’s online screening questionnaire which identified discrepancies between the information inputted and the CV previously submitted.

"Claimed to have "created a persona"

There were a few discrepancies spotted betwen the original CV cubmitted to Robert Walters and the infomation imputted into the online screening questionaie.

The original CV submitted to Robert Walters (recruitment agency):

‘University of Aston’, LLB 2009-2012: First class honours

BPTC 2012-2013: Very Competent

Information inputted by Mr Patel into the online screening questionnaire:

Birmingham City University: LLB: 2007-2009: Upper Second Class Honours

University of Law, BPTC and LPC, 2009-2010: Competent

Following this, the prospective firm asked for a copy of Mr Patel’s CV again. He sent a CV which was changed further to state that he had achieved a 2.1 in his LLB from the ‘University of Aston’.

VSL contacted a company who verify degree certification, where it was confirmed that the Respondent had achieved a Lower Second-Class Honours degree in LLB Law at Birmingham City University.

Not a First class honours from the ‘University of Aston’ or a 2.1 from the ‘University of Aston’.

The missing Masters degree

The first CV submitted allegedly made an implication that an LLM had been completed.

The report from VSL stated that they had contacted the Mr Patel and asked why he had not included any information regarding his LLM on the screening questionnaire.

VSL alleged that the respondent confirmed that an LLM had not yet been completed.

Mr Patel stated when questioned by the recruitment agency regarding the findings that he had “created a persona that he thought was required for a role in private practice”.

BP also noted that the University of Aston is actually called ‘Aston University’, and someone who had attended would have been expected to know that.

The SPB then rescinded their offer.

Following an investigation and a Solicitors Regulation Tribunal hearing, Ms Patel was struck off.

He faced further allegations of dishonesty during the tribunal hearing. Read the full STD judgement here.