Firm seeks stolen cash

Emma Garnett. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A top law firm is suing a former employee for hundreds of thousands of dollars after she stole nearly $200,000 from it.

Emma Garnett, a former solicitor at McVeagh Fleming, took $188,500 from trust accounts between 2002 and 2007. She also stole $6000 from another employer over that period.

She was sentenced to 11 months' home detention and community work last year after appealing against a three-year prison term.

But McVeagh Fleming says it has not seen any of the money Garnett was obliged to pay back.

The firm says the investigation cost it nearly $90,000, and it has now taken Garnett to court to try to recover the money and additional losses it suffered because of her offending. With interest and legal fees included, the total sought is more than $300,000.

It is understood that bankruptcy proceedings will be initiated against Garnett.

At her appeal against sentence last year, Garnett's lawyer Barry Hart told the court his client had no recollection of her offending and she suffered from a dissociative disorder that caused her to have limited awareness of her actions.

While the trial judge said there was no evidence of diminished responsibility, Appeal Court Justices William Young, Lester Chisholm and John Priestly decided the prison term was excessive because of "extraordinarily difficult family circumstances" Garnett was facing at the time.

Garnett was pregnant with her second child and had a chronically ill 2-year-old son at the time of sentencing.