By: Shelbin MS
A controversial civil liberties lawyer who “dishonestly” settled the claims of two former clients without their consent, has been struck off the solicitors’ roll after she failed to cooperate with legal authorities.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Soophia Khan breached an undertaking to London firm McMillan Williams, where she previously worked, by settling the costs claims without notifying them.
Khan, 42, also did not cooperate with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the legal ombudsman (LeO) following complaints from a third former client.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that she failed to comply with a court order to produce documents. It also refused to rehear her case.
Tribunal chair Ashok Ghosh ordered that her name be removed from the solicitors roll despite her claim that there had been “no harm or prejudice” to her former clients or McMillan Williams.
Khan was also ordered to pay the SRA £109,681.82 in costs, the Law Society Gazette reported.
Earlier, the SRA which had been investigating the allegations of dishonesty against her had shut Sophie Khan & Co which she had set up in Leicester in 2013 and suspended her from practising. But she refused to hand over documents sought by the watchdog despite a court order.
A High Court judge ordered the police to bring her before him after she failed to appear to face proceedings over the allegations. In January this year, she was also sentenced to three months of imprisonment for contempt.
The former chair of the civil justice committee of the Law Society unsuccessfully challenged her sentence and the watchdog’s intervention in her legal practice.
Khan held important positions in campaign groups that took actions against the police over stop-and-search and other policies, The Times said.
She called herself a legal expert on Tasers and often appeared on TV and radio as a champion of civil liberties.
