Shezhad Ilyas

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

Shehzad Ilyas, a solicitor and principal of Goldmark Legal Services, faced three allegations arising from his conduct of a road traffic accident claim for Client A. Allegation 1.1 (failure to comply with court orders leading to wasted costs and strike-out of the claim) was found proved in full, including manifest incompetence and a lack of integrity, but not dishonesty. Allegation 1.2 (misleading the court by omission regarding Client A being a co-director and employee) was found proved in part—a breach by omission—but the Tribunal accepted his uncle's death that morning affected him and found no dishonesty, recklessness or lack of integrity. Allegation 1.3.1 was dismissed. Allegation 1.3.2 was found proved with an express finding of dishonesty: Ilyas knowingly provided inaccurate and misleading information to the SRA about the ownership/user of the 'S' email address to conceal Client A's employment at the Firm. Given the dishonesty finding and no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £28,000 (reduced from £32,188.77).

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Avoid wasting the court's time
• Proper basis for allegations
• Comply with and respect court orders
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate, calculated dishonesty directed to the regulator during an investigation into his conduct
• Conduct designed to conceal Client A's employment and connection with the Firm
• Successive inconsistent explanations only corrected when faced with irrefutable evidence
• High culpability as an experienced solicitor and principal of the Firm
• Manifest incompetence in conducting straightforward litigation

Mitigating factors:

• Previously unblemished career of over 10 years
• Made prompt financial reparation (£5,000 for claim value plus circa £14,000 indemnity costs)
• Client A fully compensated
• Made some admissions including manifest incompetence
• Demonstrated some remorse and insight
• Introduced firm procedures to prevent recurrence
• Personal circumstances (news of uncle's death before the 24 November 2022 hearing, relevant to allegation 1.2)