Eshrat Saddiq

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

The Respondent, an unadmitted fee earner at Russell Jones & Walker, was found to have misled her employers and the SRA about having passed the LPC, which she had in fact failed. She submitted a forged letter dated 28 March 2007 purporting to confirm she had passed, and false emails purportedly from University staff (sent from a domain registered at her parents' address) were forwarded to the SRA. The Tribunal found all three allegations proved on the balance of probabilities, concluding she knowingly misled both her employer and the SRA. It made a Section 43 order prohibiting her employment by solicitors without Law Society permission, and ordered costs of £15,000 not to be enforced without leave. No express finding of dishonesty was recorded in the Tribunal's findings.

Duties found breached:

• Honour professional undertakings
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Continued to maintain a false position and blame the University rather than admit her error
• Applied to Minster Law Solicitors holding herself out as having passed the LPC while the matter was under investigation
• False emails sent from a domain registered at her parents' address where she was living

Mitigating factors:

• Good quality of work and positive client feedback while employed at RJW
• Positive character reference
• Limited financial means

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]