Firm's partner 'did not realise she had become a manager'

A solicitor who claimed not to know she was manager of a law firm for two years has agreed she breached SRA rules. 

Maria Ahmad, formerly with east London firm Malik Law Chambers, explained to the regulator she was told in 2014 to sign documents without reading them. It was only in 2016 that she became aware she was a manager and compliance officer at the firm after she saw a letterhead with her name on it.

Ahmad, a registered foreign lawyer, told investigators that she did not know that being manager would mean she would have to know the SRA rules.

She said she was a partner ‘in name only’ and was junior compared to the firm’s two owners, and she was not involved with the accounting with no access to the firm’s email.

The SRA had written to Ahmad, who worked from the firm’s Birmingham base, in 2017 to say its forensic investigation officers would be attending the Bethnal Green office. She was on holiday when inspectors arrived and it later transpired the firm had moved office and not updated its SRA records, meaning Ahmad never received the notification.

She had resigned as partner and compliance officer by February 2018 but met with the SRA when it visited the firm. Concerns were raised about misleading information that one of the owners was too ill to attend, when employees at the firm said he had regularly and actively worked on recent client matters.

The firm was found to operate bank accounts not disclosed to the SRA and was not able to confirm whether it held sufficient funds to meet its liabilities to clients. The SRA intervened in April 2018 to close the firm down for suspected dishonesty on the part of the two owners.

Ahmad was alleged to have failed to carry out the role of manager and COFA, failed to provide a competent service or protect clients on immigration matters, failed to report serious misconduct and failed to cooperate with the forensic investigation.

The SRA accepted Ahmad did not have control of the day-to-day administration of the firm and its finances, and did not have access to its internal systems.

She maintained that she was unaware of the responsibilities that the role of COFA carried and therefore unwittingly allowed the serious misconduct of others.

Ahmad admitted breaches of SRA rules and agreed that if she ever reapplied for registration as either a foreign lawyer or solicitor, she would need permission to work for a regulated firm or be a manager of any kind. She must only work in legal services under the supervision of a solicitor.

The regulatory settlement agreement resulted in the SRA’s decision to refer Ahmad to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal being overturned.