By Lucy Caulkett-
A paralegal who forged client signatures, fabricated an English language certificate, and created a fake email trail in an attempt to conceal her misconduct has been barred from the solicitors’ profession by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), losing her opportunity to qualify as a solicitor just months before she was due to begin her training contract.
Nishaat Shamas Saeed, who worked as a senior immigration paralegal at Elaahi & Co, was found by the SRA to have acted dishonestly in a manner that caused serious detriment to one of the firm’s immigration clients. As a result, the regulator has imposed an order preventing her from working in the legal profession without its prior approval, effectively ending her route to qualification.
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Saeed had completed the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and had been employed by the firm since 5 September 2023. She was scheduled to commence a training contract in June 2025, but was summarily dismissed on 24 February 2025 after her misconduct was uncovered. The dishonest conduct occurred over at least three days in mid-February 2025.
The SRA found that Saeed failed to send mandatory declaration forms to both the client and the client’s sponsor for signature before an application for an extension of leave to remain was submitted to the Home Office. Rather than rectify the omission, she admitted forging both signatures on four declaration forms before submitting them as genuine.
Her misconduct extended further. Saeed also admitted falsifying an English language certificate dated 20 January 2025 and submitting it to the Home Office, despite knowing that the client had never obtained the qualification. According to the SRA’s findings, she did so in an attempt to conceal her earlier failure to advise the client that obtaining the certificate was a prerequisite for the immigration application.
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When the firm launched an internal investigation, Saeed sought to cover her tracks by fabricating an email purporting to show that the declaration forms had been sent to the client at 6.00pm on 8 February 2025. The unscrupulous solicitor also altered screenshots taken from her work laptop to support the false narrative. The regulator concluded that these actions were designed to mislead the firm into believing that the client had received the necessary documentation when, in fact, they had not.
Confronted with the evidence gathered during the investigation, Saeed admitted that she had acted dishonestly. In its decision, the SRA said it had barred Saeed because of “the serious nature of her conduct which was dishonest and had a serious detrimental impact upon the firm’s client.”
The regulator further noted that the client “was unaware of and was not involved in Ms Saeed’s dishonest conduct but despite this it had a significant detrimental impact on the client’s immigration application.”
The SRA has consistently maintained that deliberate acts of dishonesty—particularly where they involve forged documents, false representations to public authorities and attempts to mislead an employer—strike at the heart of public confidence in the administration of justice and will ordinarily result in exclusion from the profession.
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