SRA: Regulatory settlement agreement
A lawyer who claimed she was unaware that she was a law firm’s partner has been sanctioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), two years after another partner said the same.
Maria Ahmad, formerly a registered foreign lawyer, cannot return to practise in England and Wales or be a compliance officer without the SRA’s permission, and would have to work under a solicitor’s supervision.
As a result of the regulatory settlement agreement reached with the SRA, the regulator has rescinded her referral to a disciplinary tribunal.
Ms Ahmad worked at East London firm Malik Law Chambers’ Birmingham office from 2014 until February 2018, after which she applied to be removed from the register of foreign lawyers.
The SRA closed the firm down soon because it had reason to suspect dishonesty and various rule breaches on the part of partners ‘Dr M’ and ‘Mr IA’.
Ms Ahmad began working as an immigration caseworker and became a partner in August 2014, but the agreement said she told the SRA that “she did not know how this happened as she was told to sign documents without reading them”.
She said she only became aware of her status when she saw a letterhead in 2016 with her name on it. She said she had neither an employment contract nor a partnership agreement.
Ms Ahmad became the compliance officer for finance & administration (COFA) in December 2016 because the predecessor was ill, and Dr M asked her to do it. “He told her that she did not need to do anything but taking the position would be good for her profile and to sign a document.”
She told the SRA that she understood the role of ‘manager’ (an alternative term for partner) to be an office manager and she did not realise how much responsibility the role actually entailed. “She did not know it would mean she would have to know the SRA rules.”
She resigned from the firm after learning about the SRA investigation into it. She told the regulator that she was “a partner in name only” and, despite being the COFA, Dr M dealt with the finances, including the day-to-day accounts and banking, all from the East London office.
Ms Ahmad did not have access to the firm’s email address and she described herself as “junior” compared to Dr M and Mr IA, who would check her work.
She was initially accused of failing to carry out the role of manager and COFA; failing to provide a competent service to or protect the interest of the firm’s clients in relation to immigration matters; failing to report serious misconduct at the firm; and failing to co-operate with the SRA’s investigation.
Knowing she was a partner and COFA in name only, she should have relinquished the roles, the SRA said, and it was this she admitted.
In 2021, the SRA rebuked Om Parkash, who said he did not know that he had been appointed a partner and the compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) at Malik Law Chambers until he received correspondence from the SRA.
In 2019, Malik Law Chambers partner Imtiaz Ali was struck off for lying to potential insurers, on an application for judicial review and then the SRA.
The same year, partner Dr Akbar Ali Malik was hit with a £500,000 confiscation order for repeatedly disregarding warnings from his local council to stop using a home as a West London office for the firm.
Last year, a receptionist fired by Malik Law Chambers because she was having a difficult pregnancy and taking time off work was awarded compensation of £23,500 by an employment tribunal.
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