On Tuesday, August 29, 2023, the Florida Bar filed a complaint against attorney Zubaida Iqbal for alleged violations of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. The complaint, filed in the Supreme Court of Florida, claims that Iqbal failed to competently and diligently represent her client, failed to maintain adequate communication with the client, and misled the client into believing that her application had been filed.

The case is entitled “The Florida Bar v. Zubaida Iqbal.”

According to the complaint, Iqbal was hired by Mr. and Ms. Hoosain, a married couple, to handle an immigration matter for Ms. Hoosain in February 2020. They paid Iqbal $1,500.00 for her legal services and later approximately $2,100.00 for filing fees. Iqbal agreed to file an I-485 Adjustment of Status application, which would allow Ms. Hoosain to apply for permanent resident status, and an I-601 application seeking a waiver of certain grounds of inadmissibility.

However, Iqbal allegedly failed to file Ms. Hoosain’s application and stated that it was due to COVID-19. She advised the Hoosains that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices were closed, and they were not accepting any applications between March and July of 2020 due to the pandemic. In September 2020, Mr. Hoosain exchanged text messages with Iqbal seeking an update, and Iqbal indicated that the application had been filed.

In reality, Iqbal had not filed the application, and USCIS had not cashed the check for the filing fees. Iqbal admitted that she refiled the application after she checked on the status of the application and could not find a record indicating it had been filed. However, she failed to provide useful information to Ms. Hoosain regarding her case and misled her into believing that her application had been filed.

The complaint also states that Iqbal failed to maintain adequate communication with her client. Despite responding to Ms. Hoosain’s text messages, Iqbal did not provide her with useful information regarding her case and led her to believe that her application had been filed when it had not.

The request states:

“WHEREFORE, The Florida Bar prays respondent will be appropriately disciplined in accordance with the provisions of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar as amended.”

According to avvo.com, Ms. Iqbal is an immigration attorney in Orlando, Florida. She is the owner of Law Offices Of Zubaida Iqbal, LLC. She acquired her law license in Florida in 2014. 

A copy of the original filing can be found here.