Saaima Khalid

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

The Law Society complained that the Respondent, sole director/shareholder of an incorporated practice, allowed five shares to be transferred to her non-solicitor husband for about four months in breach of Practice Rules D5 and the company's Articles. The Respondent maintained she was unaware of the transfer, which was attributed to an administrative error by accountancy staff. Despite repeated failures by the Respondent and her agent to comply with Rule 13 and Rule 50 orders to produce documents, the Tribunal, applying the criminal standard of proof, found a reasonable doubt as to her knowledge and culpability. While the Practice Rules were breached, the conduct was not a serious and reprehensible departure from proper standards. The Tribunal found her not guilty of professional misconduct, declined to remit for unsatisfactory professional conduct, and made no further expenses award (only the prior 28 June 2022 award, payable by her former solicitors, stood). The hearing proceeded in her absence after her solicitor withdrew.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients

Mitigating factors:

• Once alerted by the Law Society, the Respondent immediately took steps to rectify the share transfer
• Reasonable doubt existed as to whether the Respondent knew about or authorised the transfer (carried out by accountant's junior staff)
• Low degree of culpability