Nadia Shah

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

Nadia Shah, an assistant solicitor in a trusts and estates department, was given conduct of the sale of a vulnerable Court of Protection client's home. She attempted to sell it to her own sister at an undervalue (£190,000) rather than to buyers offering higher prices (later sold for £275,000). She obtained only a single drive-by valuation, misled the Public Guardianship Office about marketing and the buyer's identity, refused a higher offer, and then fabricated/relied on a false letter to blame the responsible partner during the OSS investigation. She admitted all allegations, including dishonesty, days before the hearing. The Tribunal found serious dishonesty and ordered her struck off the Roll and to pay costs of £23,097.56.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Honesty
• No taking unfair advantage
• No improper solicitation or touting

Aggravating factors:

• Took advantage of a vulnerable client to prefer a member of her own family
• Lied to estate agents, Public Guardianship Office, colleagues, responsible partner and the OSS
• Sought to transfer blame to Mr Cusworth by sending a false letter to the OSS, causing him significant distress and expense
• Showed no remorse
• Conduct could have resulted in substantial loss for her client
• Admitted allegations only days before the hearing