Solicitor suspended for 18 months after fraudsters posing as lawyers wrecked her practice
A solicitor whose “cherished sole practice” was destroyed by fraudsters who tricked her into employing them has been suspended from practice for 18 months.
Stefanie Anne O’Bryen, admitted in 1982 and sole owner of Watlington Solicitors in Oxfordshire, caused or allowed “Asad Sahi” and “Edward Elkins” to conduct legal services for the firm without undertaking adequate due diligence. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that “Sahi” was in fact disbarred barrister Yawar Ali Shah, who had a criminal conviction for conspiracy to commit fraud, while “Elkins” was believed to be struck off solicitor Peter Hastings. The fraudsters were described in the tribunal judgment as “the London group”.
Both men provided false identification documents when asked and were vouched for by a practising accountant and several solicitors with current practising certificates.
O’Bryen told the tribunal that she believed “Sahi” had carefully manipulated and groomed her into trusting him as a competent lawyer. However, she accepted that she had failed to carry out rudimentary identity checks. This failure led her, during 2022 and 2023, to recruit staff that a reputable law firm would seek to avoid. O’Bryen said she did not realise until August 2024 that “Sahi” was actually Yawar Ali Shah.
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In April 2024 the Metropolitan Police contacted the Solicitors Regulation Authority after Newham Council recovered bags of documents that had been fly-tipped into public bins. The bags contained 17 client files from Watlington Solicitors.
In an interview with a forensic investigator from the SRA, O’Bryen said she did not know how the files had ended up in a bin in Newham. The documents related to client matters being handled by members of the London group and showed what the tribunal described as a poor standard of service.
The recovered files included client work with no source of funds checks, no client identification documents, and in one instance a copy of a grant of probate for a deceased person whom O’Bryen said she had no idea whether the firm actually represented.
In its judgment the tribunal said: “The respondent has suffered greatly (physically, mentally and financially) as a result of the destruction of her cherished sole practice by ‘Asad Sahi’ and his associates.”
It recorded that O’Bryen had lost the opportunity to hand her practice to another local firm and was forced to pay a run-off cover premium to close down. She also incurred fees connected to two negligence claims, unbilled disbursements and other matters, as well as her own legal fees. The total losses to date were just over 100,000 pounds, excluding 25,000 pounds in costs being claimed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal imposed a fixed-term suspension for a period of 18 months and an indefinite restriction order.