Lawyer fine and reprimand for law firm owner conduct

Wills: Removed without attorney’s knowledge

An experienced solicitor has been fined £5,000 by a Bar disciplinary tribunal after failing to report an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) into the removal of 242 wills from a law firm on who owned it.

The tribunal found that Amjad Hussain did not know what had happened to the wills but should have reported to the Bar Standards Board (BSB) that the SRA, which regulated Solicitors Saffron, had made serious allegations of misconduct against him.

He was owner and manager of the Nottingham-based alternative business structure (ABS) firm, where he also held the roles of compliance officer.

The tribunal said there was a nine-month gap between the SRA notifying Mr Hussain of the allegations and his first report to the BSB – which “relates to the outcome of the SRA’s investigation and not to its commencement”.

In September 2021, the SRA disqualified Mr Hussain from being a manager or compliance officer at any regulated ABS.

This followed an investigation into the removal of wills and also the names and addresses of more than 11,000 customers.

The SRA’s notice said Mr Hussain failed to keep customer information confidential, breached accounts rules – by failing to ensure that all the company’s transactions with customer money were properly recorded and reconciliations were made against the customer’s account – and failed to report violations of regulatory authority rules. .

The tribunal said the solicitor reported this to the BSB almost three months later, at which point, unbeknownst to him, the SRA itself notified its counterpart.

He demonstrated “insight and remorse” in his self-report, but “delay in fulfilling his professional responsibilities would adversely impact the confidence the public is entitled to have in the legal profession.”

The tribunal found it was Hussain’s “first breach in a long career” and that he was “negligent in his obligations to the BSB”.

His failure “could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity”, but “his culpability was judged to be moderate and any harm was limited”. The tribunal fined Mr Hussain £5,000 for the offence.

He was reprimanded for a further offense of failing to report the decision to the SRA and again for accepting roles at Saffron without taking “adequate measures to familiarize himself with the responsibilities he assumed”.

As a result, “there were no adequate systems in place at Saffron to protect customer privacy” and the removal of the wills was a serious breach, although there was “no actual data breach” and after an investigation the Information Commissioner decided not to take no action.

The court heard the wills were removed without the solicitor’s knowledge and when he found out they were quickly returned to the office. There was low guilt and no harm.

Mr Hussain received a third reprimand for failing to “learn with the duties he assumed” as a manager and compliance officer at Saffron.

The lawyer admitted the charges against him, apart from four counts of breach of integrity. The Tribunal upheld only the first of these, relating to the failure to inform the BSB of the SRA’s investigation.

The tribunal said Mr Hussain was “distressed and co-operated fully with the BSB and the tribunal in the disciplinary process”.

He was ordered to pay £2,670 in costs.