A Bradford man who worked as a paralegal has been fired from his job and has been advised against working in the legal sector by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
A tribunal heard the case of Imran Khan on Tuesday, 15 March, who was dismissed from his job last year after being found to be deceitful.
Mr Khan, who also goes by Imran Khan Hussain and Haji Muhammed Khan was fired from the firm in Halifax last year after he missed a deadline and tried to conceal his mistake by backdating a letter.
Paralegals support other legal professionals such as solicitors and barristers, working in a variety of law firms and private, public sector and not-for-profit organisations.
Paralegal duties would typically involve preparing legal documents, research, admin, providing quotes to clients, interviewing clients and witnesses, giving clients legal information, going to court and handling a caseload of clients.
Between 4 February 2020 and 17 February 2021, Mr Khan worked at Din Solicitors whose office is at Second Floor Venture House, Silver Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 1HS.
The firm dismissed him for gross misconduct on 17 February 2021. It was found that Mr Khan missed a deadline for serving his clients’ disclosure list on a litigation matter.
The report on his dismissal, which was published last Thursday, highlighted how Mr Khan tried to conceal the missed deadline by creating a letter on 28 October 2020 which he backdated to 8 October 2020.
He then amended the letter on 4 November 2020 and sent it to the defendant’s solicitors. The deadline for serving his clients’ disclosure list was 19 October 2020.
It was found that Mr Khan’s conduct was dishonest.
Mr Khan was ordered to pay the SRA’s costs of £600 in investigating this matter.
The report said: “Mr Khan, who is not a solicitor, is or was involved in a legal practice and has occasioned or been a party to an act or default which involved such conduct on his part that it is undesirable for him to be involved in a legal practice in any of the ways described in the order below.”
A firm wishing to hire a person who has been convicted of a crime or found guilty of breaching the SRA’s Standards and Regulations must write to the SRA for permission to be employed or remunerated in the law sector, under section 43 of the Solicitors Act 1973.
Following this finding, Mr Khan is no longer allowed to work in the law sector unless his prospective employer gains permission for him to be employed and paid by a firm by the regulatory body.
