Identity theft! (well nearly)

I decided to do a "vanity" google search on my name and the phrase "employment solicitor". I did very well my linkedin page came top of the non-sponsored links which was not a bad effort. My Thomas Eggar profile was also fairly high up.

There was however one small aberration in the results - another Andrew Browning went before the solicitors disciplinary tribunal (SDT) in 2009 and has been barred from working at any law firm in England and Wales. It appears that this Andrew Browning had been stealing money from his firm's client account which is a very naughty thing to do in the world of law firms.

This is not necessarily the result that you want to turn up when you input your name into google but I accept that the SDT findings have to be made public so that people can avoid the dodgy Andrew Brownings that are out there. I was however annoyed to find another website which had the SDT decision on a web page next to my name and  a link to my entry on the law society website. This inferred that it was me who had been disciplined and I was still on the roll despite this disciplinary action being taken.

If the person who runs this website had carried out the briefest of checks he or she would have realised that me and this other Andrew Browning were not the same person. My namesake was not even a solicitor as he was actually employed as a clerk and this was clearly stated on the SDT decision which also stated that he had never been a solicitor.

I have contacted the website to ask for this link to be taken down and I am awaiting their response. In the mean time please rest assured I have not been before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for any reason. I would also like to make clear that I am not a George Michael lookalike and impersonator which is what comes up as the first result if you key just Andrew Browning into the Google search engine.