A sole practitioner who failed to conduct a proper assessment of his client’s capacity to give instructions has been suspended from practice for nine months.
Yusuf Jamal Siddiqui, admitted in November 2010, was a sole practitioner and partner at London-based firm YJS Legal. He was instructed to act in the transfer of an elderly and vulnerable client’s sole residence to a neighbour for nil consideration. He acted for both Client A and the neighbour, whose mother had been a previous client, in the transaction.
Siddiqui admitted he had failed to maintain accurate contemporaneous and chronological accounts records from at least December 2020 to January 2023 and from at least November 2022 to at least December 2022 he had failed to consider Client A’s right to remain in the property following completion of the transaction in his best interests. He also allowed client money to be transferred into his personal account and failed to ensure it was paid promptly to the client account.
He denied any failure to assess Client A’s mental capacity.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found Siddiqui’s admissions properly made. The three-person panel found that in acting for and being instructed by both Client A and the neighbour, he acted where there was a conflict, or significant risk of a conflict, of interest arising between the interests of the two clients and that he charged a disproportionate and unjustified fee with Client A.
Siddiqui told Client A the cost of the conveyancing would be £15,000 ‘considerably in excess of his usual charge for such a matter of £1,200’.
Read more
Referring to Client A’s capacity, the judgment said Siddiqui had ‘failed to apply the correct legal and professional framework when considering his client’s capacity to give instructions’.
It added: ‘Despite recognising the need for caution — reflected in his own reasoning for charging an elevated fee — the respondent failed to undertake a structured assessment or to obtain expert input to assess his client’s capacity. He did not consider whether a lasting power of attorney was in place, nor did he take steps to safeguard the client’s continued occupation of the property following the proposed transfer.’
Mitigation, the SDT noted, included that all sums paid by Client A in connection with the transaction were refunded in full and, upon learning of Client A’s registered lasting power of attorney, Siddiqui took ‘immediate stops’ to reverse the property transfer. It added the mitigation was undermined by Siddiqui’s ‘limited insight into the seriousness of the misconduct’.
Suspending Siddiqui for nine months from 16 April 2025, the SDT said the misconduct created a ‘serious risk of harm’, adding: ‘As an experienced solicitor, he ought to have been fully aware of his obligations and the gravity of the circumstances.
Siddiqui was also ordered to pay £21,129.60 costs.
