Mohinuz Zaman & C&G Solicitors Limited

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

Mohinuz Zaman, an experienced solicitor at C & G Solicitors, acted for both transferor (Person 3, aged 65) and transferee (Person 1, aged 26) in a transaction transferring Person 3's home for no consideration, where there was a glaringly obvious conflict of interest. He failed to advise the transferor adequately about the risks and failed to apply the safeguards in Outcome 3.6. The Tribunal found breaches of Principles 4, 5 and 6 and failures to achieve Outcomes 1.2, 3.5 and 3.6, plus the aggravating allegation of manifest incompetence on both allegations. No finding of dishonesty was made. Given manifest incompetence, lack of insight and continuing risk to the public, Zaman was struck off and ordered to pay costs of £20,000. The allegation against the Firm was not proved as it had not been alerted to the conflict by Zaman; no order against the Firm.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Proper basis for allegations
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Manifest incompetence found proved
• Continual blaming of others / failure to take responsibility
• Person 3 was to some extent vulnerable
• Risk of conflict was blatant and steps to manage it basic and fundamental
• High culpability; experienced solicitor with over ten years' experience
• No meaningful insight or remorse; repeatedly stated he had done nothing wrong
• Evasive evidence and refusal to be cross-examined by the Firm

Mitigating factors:

• Single episode on a single file in an otherwise unblemished career
• No previous disciplinary findings
• Direct harm to Person 3 was caused by the fraud perpetrated by others
• Some admissions made in his Answer
• Did not mislead the SRA