A well-known Bradford legal firm has been shut down as two solicitors face disciplinary hearings over alleged financial irregularities.

Industry watchdogs have frozen the bank accounts of Manningham-based Bhatti & Co, confiscated its files and ordered it to stop operating immediately.

Its clients' cases have been passed to another law firm while two of Bhatti's three partners prepare for disciplinary hearings into the allegations.

One of them, Munsif Dar Mirza, is a Registered Foreign Lawyer and does not have full solicitor status in this country.

While these cannot carry out the same range of duties as recognised solicitors, they are still regulated by the Law Society, the industry watchdog.

He and his partner Abdus Sattar Bhatti will be called to attend at a tribunal in London at some point next year.

These have the power to impose fines, suspend firms from operating and ultimately to strike solicitors from the legal register, effectively ending their career.

Today the windows of the Eldon Place practice were boarded up and signs explained that its operations had been closed down.

Geoffrey Negus, of the Office of the Supervision of Solicitors - the Law Society's regulatory arm - explained that it was able to step in and intervene at a legal firm when allegations of wrongdoing arose.

He said: "Shutting down a solicitors' firm is a very serious step to take and not one that we would take lightly."

While Mr Negus would not go into the precise nature of the claims against Bhatti & Co, it is believed it faces several financially-related allegations.

He said the Law Society had frozen the firm's bank accounts and then arrived at the business within hours physically to remove its clients' files.

These, including at least one alleged Bradford rioter, have since been passed to an appointed agent, Leeds-based Nelson & Co, while clients find alternative representation.