Marcia McCusker
Employee
7013261

Decision - Employee-related decision

Outcome: Approval of employment (section 43)

Outcome date: 16 April 2025

Published date: 6 June 2025

Firm details

Firm or organisation at time of matters giving rise to outcome

Name: Hunters Solicitors LLP

Address(es): Suffolk House, 54-55 The Green, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Firm ID: 597315

Outcome details

This outcome was reached by SRA decision.

Decision details

The controls imposed are as follows:

1. no solicitor shall employ or renumerate Marcia Rossi McCusker, in connection with her practice as a solicitor
2. no employee of a solicitor shall employ or remunerate Marcia Rossi McCusker, in connection with the solicitor's practice no recognised body shall employ or remunerate Marcia Rossi McCusker
3. no manager or employee of a recognised body shall employ or remunerate Marcia Rossi McCusker in connection with the business of that body
4. no recognised body or manager or employee of such a body shall permit Marcia Rossi McCusker to be a manager of the body
5. no recognised body or manager or employee of such a body shall permit Marcia Rossi McCusker to have an interest in the body

except in accordance with the SRA's permission.

Reasons/basis

On 6 December 2023 Ms McCusker pleaded guilty to and was convicted of two counts of wilfully pretending to be a solicitor pursuant to section 21. Those two counts related to the hearings on 20 and 27 April 2023. Ms McCusker was conditionally discharged for two years, fined £276 and ordered to pay costs of £250 and a victim surcharge of £26.

The repeated nature of the conduct and the lack of insight in this case give rise to a risk of repetition and that risk is heightened by the fact that Ms McCusker continues to work in a legal practice. Working only in an approved employment will enable us to ensure that the prospective employer is aware of Ms McCusker's conviction and the conduct that led to those convictions and puts measures in place to mitigate the risks presented.

Although there are no specific allegations that Ms McCusker acted with a lack of integrity, or dishonestly, I consider that the weight of the findings I have made against her puts public trust and confidence in the profession at risk. SRA guidance states that public trust and confidence in the firms it regulates is at the heart of the legal system. Maintaining that trust and confidence requires controlling which non-regulated persons may be involved in legal practice and under what conditions.