Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Ms Ahmed-Sheikh, a partner/director and Designated Cashroom Manager of Hamilton Burns, was found guilty of professional misconduct for failing to act after being made aware (via a cashier's email of 16 June 2014) that recovered judicial expenses due to SLAB had been improperly taken as fees, creating a client account deficit. She breached Rules B6.2.3, B6.3.1, B6.4.1, B6.5.1(d), B6.7.1, B6.11.1 and B6.12.1. The Tribunal expressly found insufficient evidence to establish dishonesty or lack of integrity under Rule B1.2, but found her omission reckless in breach of Rule B6.12.1. She was censured and her practising certificate restricted for an aggregate two years limiting her to work as a supervised qualified assistant; a fine was considered unnecessary. She was found liable for the Complainers' and Tribunal's expenses (taxed).

Duties found breached:

• Fair, reasonable and lawful fees
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Diligence and timeliness
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Previous finding of professional misconduct (15 January 2019) also based on Accounts Rules breaches from the same period
• Failed in her duties as Designated Cashroom Manager on two occasions

Mitigating factors:

• Recent bereavement (father's death) at the relevant time
• Character references from Kenny MacAskill MP and David Davis MP
• No loss to the public purse (shortfall covered by Client Protection Fund)
• Respondent no longer practising and expressed regret

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]