Lawyer Samina Ahmed, 46, fiddled her time sheets to say she worked more hours than she had in a bid to take home a £70,000 bonus – even putting herself down for 28 hours a day.
Legal aid solicitor Samina Ahmed fiddled her time sheets and routinely recorded that she worked more hours than she had, even saying that for 133 days she had worked more than 24 hours in a day, a tribunal heard. She was warned against her fraudulent scheme at a staff meeting – but continued to claim over her hours.The mum-of-three has now been struck off and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs, with the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal saying her time sheets were 'an impossibility'. Ms Ahmed, 46, had worked as a prison law solicitor at Tucker Solicitors for 17 years and was based at the firm's Manchester office.
Because she worked with people in prisons, her work was paid for by the Legal Aid Agency, which is publicly funded. Her duties also included training new lawyers. The tribunal heard that between July 2021 and June 2022, Ms Ahmed recorded time on the company's case management system that was over that she had completed – and would even put herself down for more hours than there is in a day.
She recorded 7,511.70 hours over 266 days, which averages out at over 28 hours per day. This also included 133 days for which she recorded more than 24 hours in a day. A meeting was held in April 2022 after the company noticed the indiscretion, but she still carried on falsifying the time sheets. She did this to claim the maximum bonus – which at Tuckers Solicitors could be up to 400% of her usual salary, and could have earnt Ms Ahmed £69,300.
The hours she supposedly worked were paid for by the Legal Aid Agency, totalling at £98,093, which had to be paid back by Tuckers Solicitors. After she was found out to not have stopped after the meeting, Ms Ahmed was let go and brought in front of a Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal. She struck off the solicitors' Roll and ordered to pay £5,000, which was reduced from £49,600 because she has since worked in retail jobs and for Wigan Council. The Tribunal found that Ms Ahmed "acted dishonestly and without integrity in recording time against matters where she had not and could not have completed the work claimed".
They added: "In so doing she had failed to uphold public trust and confidence in the profession. The Tribunal found that the seriousness of Ms Ahmed’s dishonest conduct was at the highest level and the resulting, foreseeable harm, both to others and to the reputation of the profession, was such that the sanction of striking off the Roll was fair, reasonable and proportionate. "Ms Ahmed acknowledged that she was currently employed as an apprentice with Wigan Council and that her income was higher than when she had previously been employed in the retail sector. She submitted, however, that her income barely covered her outgoings and that she remained in receipt of universal credit and child benefit. She was a single parent to three children."The Tribunal took into account Ms Ahmed’s modest financial means and had regard to the case of Barnes. The Tribunal did not consider that Ms Ahmed was entirely unable to meet a costs order in a reasonable period; however, it considered it appropriate to reduce the total amount of costs to reflect a fair contribution, taking into account Ms Ahmed’s limited means."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lawyer-claimed-worked-28-hours-36482089
Posted by VeniVidiViciAgain
29 comments
Wow! The balls on her.
Hopefully criminal proceedings follow for both her and her solicitors firm.
How did they prove she didn’t?
She’s a lawyer, not a mathematician.
If you want to say she can’t book 28 hours of work in a 24 hour period, that’s fine…. But *she’ll see you in court!*
My daughter regularly started at 8:39 when staying with me and finished after midnight. She never billed even close to to the hours she was working.
Honestly, for the company to have had a meeting and told her to stop is pathetic. It was fraud, she should have been out of a job.
Appreciate the pressures of a mum of three, but there are people earning far less who make ends meet.
So what was her normal salary? I’m more shocked legal aid could pay that much in bonus loll
How did she do that was she flying to Japan with Hulk Hogan?
It’s actually pretty common, especially in the USA, for Lawyers to do but it is usually to charge the clients extra.
Greed self-entitlement, and a lack of consideration.
I mean its not impossible, I remember my brother would play COD for 30 hours straight.
Sounds like she should be posting on LinkedIn, not getting in trouble.
I am impressed by her audacity 🤦🏽♀️
>28 hours a day
That would be impressive.
“Publicly funded”, why am I not surprised.
If she could get away with it for this long at such an obviously excessive extent she’s clearly not the only one exaggerating time. Wouldn’t be surprised if the culture at many of these legal aid firms is to knowingly exaggerate time which benefits both the company and the staff, effectively defrauding the government. Her first warning meeting sounds like her firm just telling her to tone it down a bit rather than the firm taking it that seriously. This notion of private firms charging the government for services at an hourly rate with trust that they’ll be honest about the time spent is quite frankly absurd. Any government services should be provided on some form of competitive fixed fee basis.
If 70,000 was 400% of her salary, that means she was only making 17500 p.a.. That’s less than minimum wage if she was full time, so was she part time or was her employer doing something to get around it?
(I’m not saying she personally deserves more, but if she’s on that little then other lawyers in the same role and/or firm will also be on that little.)
While it obviously seems absurd and makes no sense and she was convinced of the wrong doing. I have had to do something similar where I recorded 6hrs work because I was making double time and only worked 3 hours but the system wouldn’t let me do it as doble time pay.
Is there a single lawyer on earth who is genuinely working the hours they bill?
If her salary after 17 years was really just £17,500 then 🫤 but to continue with such an obvious ruse even after youve already been rumbled and publicly called out is pathological behaviour
If she can do it so brazenly then what fraud is happening more covertly?
If it was unemployment benefits (universal Credit) would be facing jail.
I really detest these double standards.
Molly Mae will be so proud
A bonus of 70k at 4x her salary means the base is 17k.
While it doesn’t sound like she is operating in a glamorous area, paying employees a small base and ‘commission’ for hours charged to third parties is an exploitative billing and compensation practice.
I wouldn’t be surprised if everybody at the company did the same, and the ‘warning meeting’ was just a regular review, or something done for everyone for plausible deniability. No proper law firm would work this way – no lawyer of senior standing would agree to such terms.
A bit impossible, 19 maybe but no day has ever had 28 hours in it.
“She did this to claim the maximum bonus – Which at Tuckers Solicitors could be up to 400% of her usual salary, and could have learnt Ms Ahmed £69,300.
£69,300/4=£17,325.00 (annual salary).
Really? Is that all Solicitors are paid? I don’t think so.
I know a few solicitors who are about five years into their career post uni and they are on about £35k – £40k per year, plus bonuses for meeting their quota.
Hahaha rinsed the government for legal aid costs most likely for years. Now still rinsing the tax payer via UC and it’s so good for her that the two child cap is going eh.
This was a case of fraud. How Wigan council see someone who committed fraud in their previous role as a fit person to train up, presumably for a position with some responsibility is utterly insane.
It’s small wonder that at a local level many councils are buggered. At a national level, well I’m convinced dear Ms Reeves won’t come knocking for an even greater slice of my earnings. No new government houses for you or your kids I’m afraid, just can’t afford it.
I’m not saying I support this sentiment, but as a guy called Zack once said, ‘two types of people cause all of our problems.’
Hate the game not the player.
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