Lawyer suspended for using blue badge falsely to park

A JUNIOR lawyer has been suspended after she parked in a disabled bay near her office and used someone else’s blue badge.

Nina Koushi used the blue badge to park her white Mercedes just months after qualifying and lied when asked who it belonged to.

A solicitors disciplinary tribunal heard she initially said it belonged to her father – before changing her story and saying “actually it’s my friend’s dad. I don’t know his name.”

She later owned up but complained she “didn’t know it was fraud” and added she had only used the badge as it was “left in my car by a mutual friend”.

Koushi was ordered to pay costs of £2,300 and suspended for six months, after incurring costs of just under £2,000 imposed by a magistrates’ court.

The tribunal heard Koushi was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in early Sep 2019 and was working as an associate solicitor at Mcmillan Williams Solicitors Limited (MWSL).

In mid-november she arrived late for work at the MWSL offices in Ealing, London, and temporarily parked in a space allocated to the firm.

When she moved her car later, she parked in the disabled bay in a “moment of panic” as she couldn’t find a spot. A parking officer spotted the Mercedes parked in the designated disabled bay.

After checking the badge it was found that it had been issued to “An … born in 1957” and had been cancelled after the owner reported it lost.

When asked about the badge, Koushi said “it’s my dad’s but then said ‘it’s actually my friend’s dad. I don’t know his name … I don’t have their numbers’”.

She later said: “I only used [the disabled space] today because the badge

‘I am a solicitor and an officer of the court and if I knew I couldn’t use it, I wouldn’t have’

was left in my car by a mutual friend. I wasn’t aware I wasn’t allowed to use it.

“I am a solicitor and an officer of the court and if I knew I couldn’t use it, I wouldn’t absolutely have used it, as I wouldn’t put my legal career in jeopardy. I didn’t know it was fraud.”

Paul Housego, chairman of the disciplinary tribunal, suspended her for six months and said her actions “could have denied someone with a disabled person’s badge from using the parking space on that afternoon”.