Md Zahidul Islam; Zarina Shaheen Bostan; Nageena Choudhry; Mohammed Saleem

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

Four solicitors faced allegations arising from the January 2020 sale of Silverman Peake LLP and an associated Trainee-Principal Agreement (TPA). The First Respondent bought the firm nominally while the Second Respondent (then an unadmitted trainee) funded the purchase and effectively ran the High Road office and accounts. The Tribunal found the First and Second Respondents breached Principles 2 and 5, the Code of Conduct for Firms, and the SRA Accounts Rules; the Second Respondent additionally breached Principles 2, 5 and 7 and the Solicitors Code by accepting a Part 36 offer for Client PA without authority and with an own-interest conflict. No express finding of dishonesty was made (only lack of integrity). The First and Second Respondents were each fined £10,001; the Second Respondent also received a Restriction Order with liberty to apply after 3 years. The First Respondent was ordered to pay £14,482.46 costs and the Second Respondent £26,895.99. All allegations against the Third and Fourth Respondents were dismissed, with no order as to costs.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Firm governance, systems and compliance

Aggravating factors:

• Second Respondent was the principal architect of the TPA
• Second Respondent showed no genuine remorse and lacked insight, deflecting responsibility onto others
• Second Respondent acted without client authority (Client PA) and continued to justify it
• Second Respondent made late disclosure and gave misleading account of an email

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings for any Respondent
• First Respondent made early admissions, was cooperative, showed genuine insight and remorse
• First Respondent's naivety and reliance on advice/assurances of others; recently qualified
• No actual harm arose (though significant risk of harm)

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=41378.45"]