Roll on Friday
A solicitor has been struck off after she was caught billing an ‘impossible’ amount of time on files, including an eight-month period of recording 28-hours a days.
Samina Ahmed, who qualified in 2005, was a senior associate at criminal defence firm Tuckers Solicitors. She primarily worked on prison matters and parole hearings which were funded by the Legal Aid Agency.
From 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022, Ahmed recorded a whopping 7,511.7 hours over 266 days, at an average of over 28 hours a day. For 133 of those days Ahmed recorded over 24 hours, which the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal pointed out was “an impossibility”. Unless she was ambidextrously drafting separate matters with each hand.
The solicitor’s excessive billing went above the fixed fee agreement with the Legal Aid Agency and resulted in “a greater cost to the public purse” as it overpaid Tuckers to the tune of almost £100k. The firm had to repay the sum, which “exposed” it to “economic harm as it had relied on those sums as part of its financial planning and budgeting”.
In April 2022, the firm warned the solicitor in a meeting about padding time, but she continued to do “knowingly recorded false time entries.”
Ahmed was motivated by the firm’s bonus scheme, found the SDT, as she aimed to reach the highest bonus tier which would have seen her earn an extra £69,300. The firm uncovered her misconduct before the bonus was awarded.
The tribunal found that Ahmed had acted dishonestly and misled both the Legal Aid Agency “into paying for work, which was not done” and Tuckers “into believing that she was eligible for a bonus”.
The tribunal struck Ahmed off the Roll and ordered that she pay £5,000 in costs.
Ahmed is the tip of the iceberg according to lawyers, who told ROF in a survey that padding time was endemic – and a third even admitted engaging in the practice.
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/solicitor-who-billed-amazing-28-hours-day-struck
