A former Clifford Chance (CC) secretary was jailed last week for defrauding the magic circle firm of more than £23,000.

Jodie Groom, 33, who was based in CC's City headquarters, has been jailed for 15 months after being sentenced on 15 counts of fraud.

The secretary, who worked in the firm's construction department, was dismissed from the firm in July 2009 after CC uncovered her actions via internal checks.

The firm found that she had been making false credit card expenses claims amounting to a sum of just over £23,000. CC has since moved to strengthen its expenses procedures.

CC declined to comment but said in a statement: "Jodie Groom's frauds were detected via our own internal checks and she was dismissed in 2009. A thorough internal investigation was carried out and the case was then handed over to the police. Since then, CC has made a number of changes to its internal expenses procedures. No client funds were involved."

Groom worked for CC for six years, having joined the firm's London office in 2003. At the time of her dismissal in 2009 she was secretary to two construction partners.