A trainee solicitor who held a second job at the Home Office used his access to immigration files to check on the progress of cases involving his wife, his own family members, and clients of his law firm. Md Towhidul Islam admitted to accessing the Central Referencing System, a database containing highly confidential information regarding all UK visa applications, during his time as an executive officer litigation caseworker between August and November 2019. Islam, who was born in 1987 and qualified in 2020, was employed by the Home Office as well as working as a trainee solicitor at Waterstone Legal, a firm based in London and Leicester, at the same time. The dual employment went undisclosed.
He accessed eight visa application files on the CRS that were not allocated to him. Five concerned family members, two related to clients of his at the law firm, and the other was someone he knew personally. All but one of these cases had concluded before he started working at the Home Office, and the other while he was there. The Solicitors Regulation Authority acknowledged that his actions had no direct impact on any live appeals and that there was no evidence he disclosed the information to any third party or intended to cause harm.
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The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal noted that Islam had “misplaced and inappropriate curiosity concerning the progress of immigration matters with which he was personally connected.” They also highlighted that the Home Office did not start investigating what he had done for more than two years after he left his position. This delay allowed the trainee to continue his employment until November 2019, by which time he had already qualified as a solicitor.
Islam admitted that he should not have accessed the data and should have informed the Home Office about his second job. He told the tribunal that the conduct “took place at a time of significant personal difficulty,” where he “struggled with the burden of studies, two jobs and a wife who had a number of complications with her pregnancy.” He added that the experience “has led to a significant period of reflection and he is determined that such conduct is never repeated.” Since these events, he has developed his practice and skills to become a better solicitor. The SRA withdrew allegations of dishonesty after the trainee admitted to recklessness, lack of integrity, and failing to behave in a way that maintains trust in the profession.