Email: Used to mislead court, counsel and opposing solicitors
A paralegal has been banned from the profession for fabricating an email in a bid to cover up a mistake she made that led to a case being struck out.
Chaida Aboobakar worked on personal injury cases for Cardiff-based New Law Solicitors but at the time was seconded to Ageas Law, a joint venture partner of NewLaw.
According to a notice published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), one of the cases she was working on was struck out for non-payment of a court fee. Ms Aboobakar thought she had paid it but had put the wrong case number on the payment request.
She tried to cover up the mistake by sending the court a fabricated email purporting to show the correct claim number. This email did not match the original held on the court file.
Ms Aboobaker filed an application for relief against sanction, accompanied by a witness statement exhibiting the fabricated email and blaming court error for the non-payment. She instructed counsel on this basis and made similar representations to solicitors for the other side.
Ms Aboobakar maintained this fiction over a period of four months.
As a result of concerns raised by the judge conducting the relief hearing, NewLaw held an internal investigation which concluded that the email originally sent by Ms Aboobakar containing the incorrect case number was the only one sent.
It was found that Ms Aboobakar had acted dishonestly and without integrity.
As NewLaw is an alternative business structure, the SRA sanctioned her under section 99 of the Legal Services Act 2007, meaning Ms Aboobakar is disqualified from holding any role at a law firm.
She was also directed to pay costs of £600.
