Samina Ahmed, a Manchester-based solicitor, has been struck off after a Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal found she flagrantly falsified her timesheets in a bid to secure the highest bonus tier at her firm.
Over a 12-month period, Ahmed recorded an eye-watering 7,511.7 hours of billable work on publicly funded Legal Aid contracts — an average of more than 28 hours per day — in order to climb her firm’s bonus ladder. The tribunal concluded her claims were impossible, dishonest and a breach of core professional principles, stripping her of her licence and ordering her to contribute £5,000 in costs.
The misconduct forced her firm to refund tens of thousands to the Legal Aid Agency and damaged public trust in the profession. Once a long-serving prison law solicitor, Ahmed now works outside the profession.
