Former Hogan Lovells litigation partner Christopher Grierson has pleaded guilty to defrauding the firm of £1.3m in false travel expenses.

Grierson made his plea at Southwark Crown Court today (27 March) after he was charged by the City of London Police with four counts of false accounting in December last year.

He was convicted on all four charges against him covering 57 fraudulent travel claims worth £1.27m over just four years, and will be sentenced on 3 May.

He was represented by QEB Hollis Whiteman's Mark Ellison QC.

In a statement, Sue Patten, head of the CPS Central Fraud Group said: "In pleading guilty, Mr Grierson has admitted to providing his former employers, Hogan Lovells, with misleading, false and deceptive documents.

"Today's conviction is a clear example of speedy justice in a fraud case in action. The message is clear: fraud is always a serious matter. Defrauding your employer or otherwise abusing a position of trust, especially over a long period of time, makes it particularly serious."

Grierson, who is best known for working on the high-profile BCCI litigation, was dismissed by Hogan Lovells on 11 May last year following an internal investigation led by the transatlantic firm's finance team.

The investigation uncovered evidence of more than £1m in irregular expenses claims made in just over four years running up to the end of December 2010.

Hogan Lovells reported the case to the Solicitors Regulation Authority later that month (13 May), with the regulator's investigation put on hold when the firm reported the case to the City of London Police in early June after Grierson repaid the money in full.

The news comes after a number of controversial incidents involving City partners in recent months, with Ince & Co partner Andrew Iyer struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last month for fraud charges involving £3m of client money.

Meanwhile, former Macfarlanes banking partner Francis Bridgeman was handed a 12-month prison term in January this year after being found guilty of lying to police about being kidnapped to avoid arrest for drink-driving.

However, the sentence was suspended for two years last month as an "act of mercy" by the court in light of the fact that his wife is seriously ill, although he had already spent one month in prison.