Naseem Yousef

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

Naseem Yousef, admitted in 2000, held a Practising Certificate subject to conditions requiring OSS-approved employment and disclosure of conditions to employers. She undertook immigration advocacy work for Malik & Malik without obtaining approval and without informing the firm of the conditions. The Tribunal found all three allegations substantiated and expressly found, applying the Twinsectra v Yardley test, that she had behaved dishonestly by not being open and frank about her position. She was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,453.28. (A prior 20 April 2004 hearing on Accounts Rules breaches had resulted in a reprimand and £6,500 costs.)

Duties found breached:

• Hold a current practising certificate

Aggravating factors:

• Made a conscious decision to work in breach of conditions despite knowing exactly what she was doing
• Failed to be open and frank with her employers about the conditions on her Practising Certificate
• Gave contradictory accounts about whether she had informed Malik & Malik of the conditions

Mitigating factors:

• Qualified as a solicitor at a mature age and was relatively inexperienced
• Accepted to a degree that she had been a victim of the nefarious activities of Dixit Shah and the Brandons Group
• Financial desperation, being unemployed with no source of income as a single parent
• The conditions on her Practising Certificate were subsequently varied by the Master of the Rolls