Qunmber Bin Ehsan

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

The Respondent solicitor entered into a retainer with Client A, received £10,000 to assist with a UK residency visa application for her parents, then became evasive, failed to provide the agreed services, failed to refund the money as promised, and failed to cooperate with both the Legal Ombudsman and SRA investigations. He did not engage with the proceedings and the hearing proceeded in his absence. The Tribunal found all allegations proved including dishonesty under the Ivey test, finding no exceptional circumstances. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £21,500.

Duties found breached:

• Cooperate openly with regulators
• Proper termination and return of instructions

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest conduct including failure to repay £10,000 contrary to express agreement
• Conduct was planned and motivated by financial gain
• Repeated failure to cooperate over a long period
• Client A was a lay client inexperienced in the matters
• Made promises prior to receiving payment which he failed to keep
• Knew his conduct breached his obligations to protect the public and reputation of the profession
• Complete failure to engage with the regulator

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings / otherwise unblemished record since admission in 2007