A young lawyer who misappropriated sensitive data from the law firm where she worked for two years before moving on to pastures new, was slapped with a €5,000 fine for her wrongdoing.

The 27-year old lawyer, whose name has been banned by the court, was targeted by criminal investigation and ultimately charged with computer misuse, unauthorised use of data, and with having made unauthorised copies of documentation, as well as being in unauthorised possession of data which she had misappropriated.

The young professional had spent two years in the employment of a leading law firm, assisting the managing partner in the setting up of companies.

Following her resignation in 2012, she moved to a group of companies, allegedly taking with her data and documents which she surreptitiously siphoned off on her last day of work.

In fact, her former employers, looking into her records, observed an extraordinary number of emails forwarded to herself at around 6am, when she would not normally report for work before 8am.

A complaint was filed with the police, leading to the arrest and interrogation of the lawyer in September 2012. At her new workplace, police discovered a number of documents, including handwritten notes, taken from her previous employer, together with billing documents and business plans.

She was trusted as a lawyer with the firm and should have known that the information held in an office like that would be sensitive and covered by professional secrecy

She claimed to have done this to have a record and sample of the work done over the preceding two years.

The court, presided over by magistrate Anthony Vella, observed that although there was no definition of computer misuse under Maltese law, reference to English law showed this offence occurred when access to the systems in question was unauthorised.

Declaring that the facts of the case were “clear, unequivocal and uncontested” the court observed that it was evident that the lawyer had known that what she did was irregular.

The fact that she had sent a phenomenal amount of e-mails to herself at six in the morning of her last day of work, without informing any of her superiors and without seeking permission or authorisation, indicated that she knew ‘fully well’ that her actions were wrong, leaving the court with no doubt as to her guilt.

“She was trusted as a lawyer with the firm and should have known that the information held in an office like that would be sensitive and covered by professional secrecy. All she had to do was to tell her superiors what she wanted the information for and ask permission to make copies for her personal use. The fact that she took what she wanted at strange times, without telling anyone, revealed her intention.”

For this reason, the court declared the lawyer guilty and fined her €5,000, besides ordering her to pay €3,220 in costs.

The court also ordered a ban on publication of the names of the law firms involved.

Former Inspector Jonathan Ferris prosecuted. Lawyer Joe Giglio was defence counsel. Lawyer Roberto Montalto was parte civile for the law firm.