Restitution for services performed under an illegal contract

Abstract

ALAGA & Co. was a firm of solicitors representing a number of Somali refugees applying for asylum in the UK. Ali Mohamed, a leading figure in the Somali community in the UK, sued Alaga: Mohamed v. Alaga & Co. [1998] 2 All E.R. 720. He had introduced the refugees to Alaga and wanted to be rewarded for making the introductions. He claimed that Alaga had entered into an oral contract with him whereby it undertook to pay him half of any fees it received from the Legal Aid Board in respect of refugees that he introduced to the firm. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Alaga denied making any such agreement. It was unlawful for it to do so. The rules of the Law Society have legal force under the Solicitors Act 1974, s. 31. Under rule 3 of those rules a solicitor may accept introductions of business from other people so long as he or she does not reward the introducers of that business in any way. Under rule 7 of the same rules a solicitor is not allowed to share or agree to share his or her fees with anyone else except other practising solicitors, his or her employees and his or her retired partners. Lightman J. assumed, for the purposes of deciding the case, that Alaga did agree to pay Mohamed for any refugees he introduced to the firm.