A barrister has been fined £5,000 by the Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service for failing to inform the Bar Standards Board that, as a law firm employee, he had been the subject of disciplinary action by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Amjad Hussain, called in November 1999, was also issued a reprimand after the three-person tribunal found he had ‘acted in a manner which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession’ and ‘acted in a way which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity’.
The tribunal found as the manager, head of legal practice, and head of finance and administration of Saffron Solicitors that ‘during his tenure he failed to ensure that client information was kept confidential, namely 242 client wills, which having been removed from the firm's premises, were stored in a manner which was not secure’.
In 2021, in an employee-related decision, the SRA made Hussain subject to a disqualification order and ordered to pay £600 costs. The disqualification order was issued over breaches including that he failed to ensure client information was kept confidential when 242 wills and the names and addresses of more than 11,000 clients were removed from the firm and not properly secured.
The same incident formed part of the eight charges brought against Hussain at the BTAS, all of which were found proved.
The BTAS found Hussain failed to inform the BSB ‘promptly’ that he had ‘committed serious misconduct’ and was disqualified by the SRA from holding roles as head of legal practice, head of financial and administration, or a manager of a licensed SRA body.
Hussain, a registered barrister, must also pay £2,670 costs to the BSB. The tribunal’s findings are open to appeal.
