Solicitor struck off for abusing immigration system
A Manchester solicitor has been struck off and ordered to pay £10,000 in legal costs after being found to have “engaged in a systematic course of conduct designed to undermine the immigration system”.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled that Vay Sui Ip, 41, carried out persistent abuse of the process of the court by bringing judicial review applications which were “totally without merit”.
Ip, a partner in Sandbrook Solicitors practising alongside fellow partner Mohammed Imran Javid between November 3, 2011 and December 31, 2015, when it ceased trading, failed to act in accordance with the duty of candour required of solicitors and failed to place full facts before the court.
The tribunal said the outcome of the case should act as a deterrent to other solicitors tempted to act in the same way, and also pointed out that the immigration system was open to abuse by people with wholly meritless claims.
Ip’s misdemeanours came to light in 2015, when a High Court judge referred Sandbrook to the Solicitors Regulation Authority after five “hopeless” judicial reviews brought by the firm.
Ip found himself in trouble in 2015 after a High Court judge referred his firm, Sandbrook Solicitors in Manchester, to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) after reviewing five “hopeless” JRs brought by the firm.
