A Home Office caseworker who had a second job as a trainee solicitor accessed his own client files to check immigration matters.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said MD Towhidul Islam had a ‘misplaced and inappropriate’ curiosity over the progress of immigration cases with which he was personally involved. As well as accessing the records of two clients of his firm, he also looked up five files relating to family members and another live file concerning someone he knew.
The tribunal ordered that Islam be suspended for 12 months and then subject to conditions requiring him to secure Solicitors Regulation Authority permission to work as a solicitor for a further 12 months.
Islam, 39, began working as an executive officer litigation caseworker in August 2019, dealing with pre-action protocol letters and judicial review claims. On starting in the role, he had been warned by his line manager to treat data and personal information carefully, and that access to the central system, which held information on all UK visa applications, was only allowed for limited purposes.
At the same time, he was already working as a trainee solicitor for London firm Waterstone Legal, representing individuals in respect of their visa applications to the Home Office and judicial review applications against refusal decisions.
The tribunal heard that two of the files he looked up related to Waterstone Legal clients, although most of the eight were closed applications.
He failed to notify the Home Office that he remained employed as a trainee solicitor with Waterstone Legal. Given the nature of his respective roles, the tribunal found that Islam should have appreciated the potential conflict of interest arising from his concurrent employment and should have disclosed that position to his line manager.
While there was no evidence that the information accessed was disclosed to any third party, or that Islam intended to cause harm, the tribunal was satisfied that the potential for harm was readily foreseeable.
He resigned from his Home Office role in November 2019 and qualified as a solicitor in October 2020.
In his own mitigation, Islam acknowledged his actions fell short of the standards expected of a solicitor, although he pointed out he was not admitted at the time. The conduct took place at a time of significant personal difficulty, where he struggled with the burden of studies, two jobs and a pregnant wife, and there have been no disciplinary issues before or since.
Islam agreed to pay £41,350 towards the SRA’s costs.
