A paralegal has been barred from the profession after failing to tell his firm about a court judgment of fundamental dishonesty against him.

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Source: Alamy

Shahraq Hussain, from Birmingham, had secured a paralegal job with national firm DAC Beachcroft in February 2023. The law graduate had been asked in a pre-employment questionnaire whether he had ever been the subject of civil proceedings and whether he had any judgment debts made under a court order still outstanding.

Hussain answered ‘no’ to both questions, when in fact he had been found to be fundamentally dishonest in his conduct of a personal injury claim.

Birmingham County Court had made an order in October 2019 to dismiss his claim and direct him to pay the defence costs.

The matter was reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which found that Hussain had completed this online questionnaire and given false and misleading responses. His conduct was found to be dishonest and it was deemed undesirable for him to be involved in a legal practice without the SRA’s prior approval.

Hussain was made subject to a section 43 order and ordered to pay £600 costs.