Bianca Castro

5 days ago | lawgazette.co.uk | Bianca Castro

A solicitor who argued he was entitled to 40% of the fees billed and paid in respect of work done by others for a client has had his appeal dismissed by the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Alastair Dobbie, a solicitor and non-practising barrister, was engaged by Feltons Solicitors under an agreement in which he carried out duties as a consultant and was entitled to 40% of the fees billed, paid and received by the firm.

5 days ago | lawgazette.co.uk | Bianca Castro

A partner with top-25 firm DWF has been fined more than £14,000 after he admitted failing to check money was properly due to a property developer client before authorising payments amounting to more than £1.6m. The client subsequently went into administration. Mark Andrew Shepherd, admitted in 2002, was alleged to have failed to check that deposits and instalments from property buyers were properly due to the client before authorising payments from the client account.

1 week ago | lawgazette.co.uk | Bianca Castro

The Judicial Appointments Commission has been prevented from making any submission in a solicitor judge's attempt to push through a freedom of information request about recruitment competitions for the bench. In a long-running dispute, His Honour Judge Abbas Mithani is challenging the JAC’s refusal to answer FoI requests.

1 week ago | lawgazette.co.uk | Bianca Castro

The legal ombudsman was wrong to award an additional £15,692 remedy to a law firm’s client over the firm’s failure to adequately assess a client’s capacity, the High Court has found. Aina Khan Law Ltd, a family law specialist, challenged the ombudsman's decision to uphold parts of a complaint made to it by a former client. The LeO required the firm to pay £51,192.60.

1 week ago | lawgazette.co.uk | Bianca Castro

A solicitor who featured in a Daily Mail undercover sting targeting immigration lawyers was today cleared of alleged wrongdoing by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Muhammad Nazar Hayat, admitted in December 2013, was the owner, manager and director of Lincoln Lawrence Solicitors, in Hounslow, west London. In May 2023 he was covertly recorded during a meeting with three undercover journalists posing as members of an asylum seeker’s family.