A former law firm director removed from the solicitors' profession on the basis of a flawed judgment says she has yet to receive an apology from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Layla Dean-Verity was banned by the regulator seven years ago and since then has been through a long and exhausting battle to clear her name.

The SRA order was made substantially on the basis of an employment judge’s findings in 2014 that Dean-Verity had carried out four categories of unauthorised transaction. Those findings were later undermined by new documents coming to light, but an SRA adjudicator opted only to revoke the ban but not the rebuke. It was not until this year, when a different employment judge revoked the 2014 judgment, that the SRA agreed to overturn its decision and revoke a £1,350 costs order.

Dean-Verity, who qualified as a barrister in 2018, told the Gazette she had been overwhelmed with supportive messages from colleagues at the bar and in the wider legal profession since her story came out last week, but was still waiting for a further response from the SRA.

Layla Dean

Dean: 'I’m mentally exhausted but feel blessed'

‘Even since January when the SRA overturned its decisions, it is still refusing to acknowledge its mistake let alone apologise,’ she said. ‘I have spent thousands of my own personal money to clear my name. They have refused to refund my judical review costs let alone any compensatory rebalance.’

Dean-Verity, previously known as Anjum Tahirkheli, was a director and practice manager of Bradford firm Khan Solicitors along with her then husband Mohammed Khan. Her marriage broke down in May 2012 and three months later she was dismissed on the grounds of serious financial impropriety. 

She had appealed the SRA’s decision but it was upheld by an adjudication panel and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Dean-Verity was ordered to pay costs of £30,000 by the SDT in its determination of 2017 but the SRA has told her it does not have the power to make any decision in terms of those costs. She insists the SRA can pursue a court order to help her recover lost monies.

Dean-Verity says she was also denied work after her ban when a solicitors' firm wanted to employ her, but the SRA refused permission.

She now believes her reputation was ‘trashed’ by a fundamentally flawed employment tribunal finding and the SRA’s decision to rely on it.

‘What kept me going was to clear my name for my children and now my two grandchildren - I wanted closure for them,’ she added. ‘And my belief the English legal system is one of the best in the world.

‘I’ve had so many messages asking me how I feel now that I’ve been vindicated - I’m mentally exhausted but feel blessed. I have an amazing husband who has stood by me for the last seven years providing a much-needed shoulder. I had the most wonderful support from my pupil master Tahir Khan KC, I am very grateful to Great James Street Chambers Alun Jones KC who saw it for what it really was and the BSB, my inn, the inner temple and the late Patrick Maddams.’

A spokesperson for the SRA said: ‘All of our decisions are made on the basis of the evidence available at the time. We worked closely with Ms Dean-Verity to resolve matters following the identification of new information in her case.’