SRA announces immediate action has been taken to suspend solicitors named in article
Following a widely reported investigation by the Daily Mail, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced today that it has closed down three solicitor firms.
Image credit: UK GovernmentThe firms are named as Rashid & Rashid in South Wimbledon, Kingswright Solicitors in Birmingham, and Lincoln Lawrence in Hounslow. Three solicitors have been suspended and can no longer practice, and an immigration adviser has been prevented from working.
An investigation by the Daily Mail alleged that the individuals and firms had encouraged an undercover reporter to submit false asylum and human rights claims.
Last week, the Lord Chancellor, Alex Chalk, wrote to the SRA calling for an urgent review into immigration solicitors following the allegations.
The SRA responded to the Lord Chancellor today and said it had taken immediate action to close the firms after obtaining evidence from the Daily Mail.
Anna Bradley, Chair of the SRA Board, wrote in her letter to the Lord Chancellor:
We very much agree that public trust and confidence is fundamental to a strong and healthy legal profession and, like you, we were shocked by the apparent behaviour of those solicitors identified by the Daily Mail recently. As you acknowledge in your letter, solicitors play an important role in our society and the vast majority behave in an appropriate and professional manner, providing high quality, much needed advice and assistance to their clients. However, in areas of law where the consequences for clients are so severe, such as in immigration services, these high standards are even more critical.
We are of course investigating these matters fully. I set out below the immediate steps we are taking to address the specific allegations raised by the Daily Mail:
1. We obtained from the Daily Mail recordings and transcripts of conversations with four of the solicitors in question and have reviewed that material. We have commenced an urgent on-site inspection of two of the firms involved to gather further evidence.
2. Based on the evidence available, we have taken the following urgent action:
• intervening into three of the firms, this has the effect of suspending from practice the individual solicitors involved and closing the firms
• making an order against a non-regulated person working at a further firm which has the effect of prohibiting them from working with or for a firm that we regulate
More generally, Bradley added that further follow-up actions will be taken after last year's thematic review by the SRA into the immigration and asylum legal sector. These will include:
• commencing a wider inspection of the immigration sector, looking at compliance with new SRA guidance. This will commence in the next few weeks and will include a cross section of firms working in the asylum sector and take into account the issues raised by the Daily Mail investigation,
• expanding and promoting the information on the SRA's rules and best practice that are available to law firms. This will include new guidance that will take account of the serious issues raised by the Daily Mail investigation and will ensure that solicitors are aware of their professional obligations,
• publishing new information, tailored to asylum seekers and interpreters, on the public-facing Legal Choices website.
Alex Chalk welcomed the SRA's actions. In a brief statement posted on Twitter, the Lord Chancellor said: "I welcome this swift initial action by [the SRA]. The independent investigative process must now be allowed to take its course. Those found to have undermined the high professional standards of the overwhelming majority should expect a robust response."