Barred from profession
A former compliance analyst at Debevoise & Plimpton has been barred from working in the legal profession after pretending to be one of its lawyers in a private tenancy dispute.
Ridita Rahman, who joined the US firm’s London office as an anti-money laundering compliance analyst in July 2024, wrote to a third party in December that year regarding a residential landlord and tenant matter between that party and her partner, who was the landlord. Her partner was never a client of the firm.
According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), on 5 December 2024 Rahman used Debevoise headed paper, described herself as an “associate” of the firm and corresponded with the third party from her work email account.
On 17 December 2024, she used the same account to send the third party a notice under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. The regulator found the notice to be “misleading” because it implied that Debevoise was acting on her partner’s behalf.
Rahman left the firm that same day, though Debevoise did not learn of the correspondence until May 2025.
The SRA found that Rahman had “acted dishonestly” and made an order under section 43(2) of the Solicitors Act 1974, barring her from working in the legal profession without its permission. The restriction was warranted, the regulator said, given “the serious nature of her conduct which was dishonest”.
Rahman was also ordered to pay £600 in costs.
