Solicitor's life in tatters after she admits stealing £1,300 from law firm

Zosia Fraser, 29, was considered a promising lawyer with excellent prospects until her dishonesty came to light.

She was subsequently sacked from her position with a Scottish law firm amid claims she was caught charging clients upfront cash payments that she then pocketed for herself.

Fraser, who has large debts from her time as a student and has had her wages frozen by Dundee City Council pursuing unpaid council tax, yesterday pleaded guilty to an embezzlement charge.

Although she did not appear in person at Dundee Sheriff Court, her solicitor, George Donnelly, tended a plea of guilty on her behalf to an amended charge of embezzling 1,315 from Dundee-based law firm Muir, Myles, Laverty.

The initial charge was that Fraser stole 2,040.50, but yesterday the Crown accepted the new sum and Fraser was ordered to appear for sentence next month.

Fraser, a domestic law specialist who is originally from Inverness, graduated from Dundee University with a diploma in legal practice in 1999.

After graduating, she was employed by Dundee-based law firm RSB Macdonald as a trainee.

However, she was later sacked for gross misconduct after forging a doctor's letter that stated she had suffered a miscarriage and was forced to take time off work.

She was reported to the Law Society of Scotland, and it was decided to extend her training contract from one year to two.

Fraser now faces an uncertain future in the profession.

One Dundee solicitor, who did not wish to be named, said: "Zosia is a bright girl but has been a disaster from the beginning. I can't see how she can continue to practise as a solicitor."

After she was sacked from Muir, Myles, Laverty for stealing money from clients, she joined another Dundee firm, Joe Myles & Co.

And Fraser was still also regularly appearing for clients at Dundee Sheriff Court until she was suspended by the Law Society.

When the charges came to light, Joe Myles said at the time: "Zosia voluntarily gave up her position with my firm. Anything she has been questioned about relates to things that happened before she joined with us.

"I think things have come to a head now and she has resigned."

In 2004, another promising Dundee-based solicitor was convicted and fined after admitting a 5,187 child care tax fraud.

Louise Hay pretended to be a single parent and received the Working Family Tax Credit by signing Inland Revenue forms with the name Hazel Mears. She was fined 750 at Dundee Sheriff Court.

Hay was fired by Edinburgh-based law firm Simpson & Marwick and later lost her unfair dismissal case.

However, the Scottish Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that Hay, from Broughty Ferry, could remain a lawyer because there is little chance of her re-offending.

And last month, a solicitor who was jailed for 32 months for smuggling drugs into a prison was freed after serving just a year.

Former defence lawyer Angela Baillie, 33 - nicknamed Ally McDeal by the tabloids - was jailed after pleading guilty to handing a cigarette packet containing heroin and diazepam worth 1,600 to a man awaiting trial in Barlinnie prison.