A solicitor has been suspended from practice for 18 months, and his brother heavily fined, in the latest disciplinary ruling over tactical judicial reviews designed to frustrate deportations.
Malik Mohammed Saleem and Malik Mohammed Nazeer, of London firm Malik & Malik, were sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal following a hearing in November. Each had over 20 years’ experience as a solicitor.
Malik & Malik had submitted 35 judicial review cases between April 2014 and July 2015 that were certified as totally without merit, according to the Home Office. The Solicitors Regulation Authority, which brought the case, alleged that bringing meritless claims was a tactic designed to “prevent a claimant from being removed until their claim for JR was determined”.
Malik Mohammed Saleem, as the partner in charge of the immigration department and “the more culpable of the two”, was also found to have recklessly failed to warn two clients that any claims they brought would be “bound to fail and/or out of time”, and to have been “manifestly incompetent” in one case.
