The regulator for the solicitors’ profession in England and Wales has closed down three firms that were named in a recent Daily Mail undercover operation involving immigration services.

The three firms are Rashid & Rashid (South Wimbledon), Kingswright Solicitors (Birmingham), and Lincoln Lawrence (Hounslow).

The Daily Mail story appeared to show lawyers advising clients on how to create stories to boost their asylum claims.

Intervention

The move from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), known as intervention, means that it has stopped the firms from operating, taken possession of all documents and papers held by the firms, and taken possession of all money held by the firms.

The practising certificates of three solicitors have also been automatically suspended.

The SRA has also replied to a letter from Britain’s justice secretary Alex Chalk (pictured), who had urged the body to take “necessary and robust action” against any practitioners found to be in breach of their professional duties.

In the reply, the SRA said that it agreed that public trust and confidence was fundamental to a strong and healthy legal profession, adding that it was “shocked by the apparent behaviour of those solicitors identified by the Daily Mail recently”.

It stated that, in addition to immediate steps it had taken, it was investigating these matters “fully”.