Ather Rafique

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

The Respondent, a solicitor admitted in 2005, forged three letters (two purportedly from Amjad Malik Solicitors and one from the Hull Witness Service) to support his application for admission to the Roll of Solicitors, and failed to notify the Law Society of a change in his place of business. He admitted all allegations, including dishonesty on the three forgery allegations. The Tribunal found the allegations substantiated and, applying Twinsectra, found his conduct dishonest. Given the blatant dishonesty involving forgery to gain admission, he was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay £3,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Diligence and timeliness
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Forged letters on three separate occasions
• Conduct undertaken in order to gain admission as a solicitor
• Sought to mislead the Law Society as to who had written the letters

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted the matters at an early stage
• Present at and cooperated with the hearing
• Pleaded youth, family responsibilities, background and voluntary work