Muhammad Nazar Hayat
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Code of Conduct for Solicitors, REL's & RFL's 2019, SRA Principles 2019
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The SRA alleged that the Respondent, an immigration solicitor, advised a person he believed to be a prospective client (in reality an undercover Daily Mail journalist in a sting operation) to provide a false narrative to support an asylum claim, in breach of Paragraph 1.4 of the Code and Principles 1, 2, 4 and 5. The case rested on covert recordings conducted partly in Punjabi, with competing translations. The Tribunal found the meeting was an exploratory one with no retainer or fees in place; the Respondent's references to "creating/making" evidence or a "story" reflected collating evidence, not fabrication. His references to human trafficking and persecution were rehearsing potential arguments based on the client's account (including the "Dunki" route and links to the Amritpal protests), subject to further evidence at a future meeting. English not being the Respondent's first language was a relevant contextual factor. The Tribunal found the Respondent did not act dishonestly and did not breach the Principles or Code. Allegation 1.1 was found not proved and dismissed. No order for costs was made; the Tribunal found the case had been properly brought by the SRA and there was no good reason to depart from the default position of no costs against the regulator (per Baxendale-Walker and Tsang).
Codes & rules applied
Duties engaged
- Act only on proper, lawful instructions
- Advise on alternatives, settlement and outcome
- Avoid wasting the court's time
- Cease acting on client perjury or disobedience
- Client-care and engagement terms
- Client confidentiality
- Competence
- Complaints procedure and handling
- Comply with and respect court orders
- Comply with rules of foreign jurisdictions
- Continuity and handover of representation
- Cooperate openly with regulators
- Costs and fee transparency to client
- Diligence and timeliness
- Disclose adverse law to the court
- Disclose material information to client
- Disclose referrals, commissions and benefits
- Fair dealing with unrepresented parties
- Fair, reasonable and lawful fees
- Full disclosure on ex parte applications
- Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
- Handle inadvertently received material
- Hold a current practising certificate
- Honour professional undertakings
- Keep client informed and respond promptly
- Maintain competence and CPD
- Manage conflict arising mid-matter
- No abuse of process or coercive powers
- No acting against a former client
- No baseless or threatened misconduct report
- No conflict between current clients
- No direct dealing with represented party
- No improper benefit, loan or bequest
- No improper communication with the court
- No improper fee-sharing or partnership
- No improper questioning of witnesses
- No improper solicitation or touting
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
- No obstruction or victimisation of reporters
- No own-interest conflict
- No payments to witnesses on evidence
- No personal opinion or familiarity with court
- No prejudicial publicity for pending cases
- No standing bail or surety for client
- No taking unfair advantage
- No tampering with or coaching witnesses
- Not mislead the court
- Not mislead third parties or opponents
- Not misrepresent regulated status
- Pay instructed practitioners and agents
- Professional indemnity insurance
- Proper basis for allegations
- Proper termination and return of instructions
- Prosecutorial duty of disclosure
- Prosecutorial fairness and impartiality
- Protect capacity and vulnerable clients
- Protect legal professional privilege
- Report serious misconduct of others
- Safeguard documents and limit liens
- Self-report to the regulator
- Truthful, non-misleading advertising