Dublin-based solicitor denies claim he intimidated or harassed law student

A Dublin-based solicitor denies allegations that he intimidated or harassed a law student who has made a complaint about him to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), the High Court has heard.

The student, Sumaia Samanta, has asked the court for an order restraining solicitor Imtiaz Khan, practising under the title of IMK Solicitors, from deliberately and punitively harassing, intimidating and causing her intentional emotional distress.

Ms Samanta, who claims she made a complaint after she was not paid for work allegedly done for the defendant’s firm, also wants the terms of the injunction applied to any alleged agent, associate of, or person acting for Mr Khan.

Last week her lawyer, David O’Brien BL, instructed by RNL Solicitors, secured the court’s permission to serve short notice of her injunction application against Mr Khan.

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On Monday, Robert Beatty SC, for Mr Khan, said the injunction application is “unstateable” and should be dismissed.

Counsel said the matter had received some media attention and, as a practising solicitor, his client was anxious that the application be heard as soon as possible.

Mr Justice Brian O’Moore made some directions and adjourned the application. The judge added that he hoped to be able to schedule the hearing when the case next returns.

Previously, the court heard Ms Samanta holds a law degree from Bangladesh and is currently studying at the Law Society of Ireland with a view to qualifying as a solicitor. She claims she worked for the defendant, who is based in Mountjoy Square in Dublin, in late 2022

In her affidavit, the plaintiff, with an address in Leixlip, Co Kildare, says her role included promoting the firm via her social media channels to members of Ireland’s Bangladeshi community.

She says she was to be paid a commission for every new client she brought into the firm, and her travel expenses. However, she claims she was not paid so she made a complaint to the WRC about Mr Khan.

Since making the complaint, she claims, she has been subjected to a malicious campaign of intimidation and harassment, which, she says, is “designed to pressure me into withdrawing my WRC claim against him”. She seeks various High Court orders, including an injunction and damages against Mr Khan.