Dilaor Miah

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

Dilaor Miah, a senior fee earner at Thompsons Solicitors, created false documents (attendance notes, letters, invoices) on 6 client files to conceal that he had double-booked advocates and cancelled agents at short notice. He submitted fictitious invoices from an entity 'LS' to the National Taxing Team, obtaining payments from central funds, and directed payments to recipients other than authorised. The Tribunal found dishonesty and lack of integrity proved beyond reasonable doubt on all three allegations, rejecting the argument that his depression, alcohol use and self-medication prevented him from knowing his conduct was dishonest. Finding no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered him to pay costs of £24,825.48. Separately, the SRA was ordered to pay the Respondent £2,441.80 for costs thrown away at an earlier aborted hearing.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Proven dishonesty
• Repeated and deliberate nature of the misconduct across 6 separate client files
• Concealment of errors (double bookings) from his employer
• Experienced solicitor who knew or ought to have known his conduct breached obligations

Mitigating factors:

• Previously unblemished career and good character
• Early admissions of the facts once discovered
• Suffering from mental illness (depression) triggered by a traumatic personal event, compounded by alcohol and self-medication
• Offered to reimburse the loss to the firm
• Cooperated throughout the investigation
• No direct financial benefit