Waheed Ur Rehman Mian

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

Waheed Ur Rehman Mian, owner/member/COLP/COFA of M-R Solicitors LLP, acted for clients investing in off-plan property development projects with Aronex Developments Ltd, a company with significant connections to the Firm (his wife was a director, employees were directors, and the Firm was Aronex's landlord). He failed to disclose these conflicts of interest, failed to adequately advise clients of investment risks, failed to inform them of planning permission issues before releasing up to 70% deposits, and failed to supervise a trainee solicitor. Aronex collapsed in November 2019 and investors lost deposits. The Tribunal found all allegations proved, including contested breaches of Principles 2 and 3 (lack of integrity), rejecting his late defence that he was unaware of his wife's directorship. No express finding of dishonesty was made. He was suspended for 6 months and ordered to pay costs of £40,218.40.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Firm governance, systems and compliance
• Integrity
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Professional independence
• Supervise staff and delegated work
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct continued over a period exceeding two years
• Respondent knew or ought reasonably to have known conduct was in material breach of obligations
• Presented a new, fundamentally flawed defence during the hearing
• Lack of insight regarding misconduct
• Financial motivation to retain clients

Mitigating factors:

• Cooperated with the regulator throughout the investigation
• No previous disciplinary history
• Faced significant increase to professional indemnity insurance premium
• Made efforts to ensure clients were compensated through insurers
• Provided positive character references