Azfar Bajwa
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Failures
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Azfar Naseem Bajwa, principal of A Bajwa & Co, was found to have facilitated abuse of litigation by filing totally without merit Judicial Review claims in immigration/detention cases to thwart lawful removal or procure release, misled Clients 1, 6 and 7 about their prospects of success, breached his duty to the Upper Tribunal, and failed to adequately supervise unadmitted fee earners (including his father and brother). The Tribunal found breaches of Principles 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 and failures to achieve several Outcomes. It found a lack of integrity but made no express finding of dishonesty. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £37,500. Allegation 1.4 (manifest incompetence, pleaded as an alternative) was not adjudicated, and Allegation 1.2 was not proved in respect of Client 4.
Duties found breached:
- Act in the client's best interests
- Firm governance, systems and compliance
- Honesty
- Integrity
- No abuse of process or coercive powers
- No improper communication with the court
- No improper solicitation or touting
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
- Not misrepresent regulated status
- Uphold public trust in the profession
Aggravating factors:
- Misconduct was deliberate and repeated over approximately two years
- Clients in the immigration system were often very vulnerable
- Respondent knew he was in material breach of his obligations
- Previous appearance before the Tribunal in 2010 (fined £2,000) for a sham partnership agreement
- Conduct was planned rather than spontaneous
- Motivated by a desire to grow his business
Mitigating factors:
- Offered refunds to some clients
- Cooperated with the SRA
- Reduction in volume of JR work undertaken by the Firm
- No client complaints to the SRA