Solicitors struck off
Two solicitors working at the same Bradford firm have been struck off.
Mohammed Ayub was an equity partner at Chambers Solicitors on Grattan Street in Bradford and Neil Frew was a salaried partner at the firm.
In hearings published by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), it was found that Ayub failed to supervise the conduct of divorce proceedings by members of staff and/or a person doing work experience to prevent three clients being provided false Decree Absolutes in March 2010, January 2011 and August 2012.
Ayub then failed to deal with complaint promptly, fairly, openly or effectively.
The SRA hearing stated that he: “failed to act in the best interests of each client or provide a good standard of services to his clients, and behaved in a way that was likely to diminish the trust the public places in him or the legal profession.”
The Chambers were established in March 2003 and the firm was intervened into in 7 December 2016, when Ayub’s practising certificate was suspended contemporaneously. Police conducted an investigation into five separate cases of alleged fraudulent Decree Absolutes between 2008 and 2012.
The SDT found that an unpaid member of staff had been helping the firm for three or four years. She was allowed to take on divorce files and concerns with her work were mentioned to Ayub.
“Mr Ayub as sole equity partner had overarching responsibility for the management and proper governance of the firm. All management decisions were made by him. There were no strict controls over who had access to the case management system and who was permitted to assist with the legal work carried out in the firm and when that could take place,” said the SDT’s report.
It also found that there was no regular checking of work by suitable or competent people.
Both Ayub and Frew were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the Legal Aid Agency in June 2017. Ayub was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment. Frew was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
The offence relates to conspiring to defraud the legal aid agency by presenting to use the company, Legal Support Services, for interpreters’ services when they were being arranged directly by Chambers.
The SDT said: “This was done so Chambers could have the additional money that a company sourcing interpreters would be entitled to claim.”
At the SDT hearing, both were struck of the solicitors roll. Ayub was ordered to pay costs of £4,139.34. Frew was ordered to pay £845.74.
