Decision record
Zahid Akhtar
Allegation / charges
Authorisation of Individuals Regulations 2019, Breaches, SRA Principles 2019
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Zahid Akhtar, a freelance solicitor, was found to have undertaken immigration work between around 28 February and 25 July 2022 when he was neither a recognised sole practitioner nor a manager, employee or member of an authorised body, despite repeated warnings from the SRA that he was not authorised to do so (Allegation 1.1 proved). A second allegation that he dishonestly provided inaccurate/misleading information to the SRA about ceasing immigration work was found not proved, as the Tribunal accepted his genuine, albeit unreasonable, understanding of the facts and was not satisfied he acted dishonestly (Allegation 1.2 not proved). The Tribunal found high culpability and moderate harm, and imposed a 12-month suspension with indefinite practice conditions, plus costs of £9,500 (reduced from £12,000 due to the Respondent's financial circumstances).
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Knew or ought reasonably to have known conduct was in material breach of obligations to protect the public and reputation of the profession
- Warned repeatedly by his regulator on at least six occasions and expressly told he must not act
- Misconduct deliberate, calculated and repeated over a sustained period
- Blamed others for his misconduct and persisted in this during the hearing
- Lacked insight and proper understanding of the seriousness of his actions
Mitigating factors:
- No previous disciplinary findings
- No financial gain from the work and did not personally represent clients in court
- No primary evidence of harm to clients
- Poor health referenced (though not found directly related to misconduct)
- Sole breadwinner of young family