A victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, Seema Misra, has been threatened with legal action over a £60,000 bill by one of her former lawyers, Nick Gould.

Gould worked pro bono (for free) with the barristers Flora Page and Paul Marshall, on Seema’s successful appeal against her conviction for theft in April 2021. Gould also helped ensure Janet Skinner and Tracy Felstead’s convictions got quashed at the same hearing. All three women were sent to prison after being prosecuted by the Post Office. Seema was pregnant. Tracy was just nineteen. After her release Janet was hospitalised with a serious physiological condition and told she would never walk again. Gould’s former clients have suffered considerably as a result of their criminal convictions. None have yet received full compensation.

In the immediate aftermath of the appeal hearing in 2021, Nick Gould indicated he would like to get paid for any further legal work he did for them. The three women, full of gratitude, agreed, and in May 2021 they signed retainers for the provision of “commercial legal services” provided by Nick Gould through his firm, Aria Grace Law. According to the terms and conditions attached to the retainer letter, Gould would charge his services at £300 per hour, and the maximum total amount of fees charged were agreed to be capped at £60,000 (inc VAT), payable on receipt of compensation. Seema’s compensation negotiations were handled separately, at first under a direct access agreement with Paul Marshall who then brought in the law firm Simons Muirhead Burton (SMB) to assist.

Mystic Invoice

On 24 January last year, Seema received an invoice from Aria Grace Law, demanding £58,800 for “advising… in connection with matters relating to the Post Office Scandal”. It is understood Janet Skinner and Tracy Felstead received similar demands. The final sum was the maximum £60,000 minus £1,200 Seema, Janet and Tracy had already paid Gould in 2023.

Nick Gould was apparently billing three women a total of £150,000 (ex VAT) for a total of 500 hours’ “commercial legal services” over three years at £300ph. There was no explanation as to what legal work Gould had actually done.

Seema was not happy. She didn’t know what she was being billed for. Nonetheless, in February last year, she paid £20,000 towards the invoice. This money was sourced from her interim compensation. It’s thought Janet and Tracy have paid even more out of their interims. All three are vulnerable people. None were advised to seek legal advice before entering into the agreement with Nick Gould and Aria Grace, and none have been legally represented on this matter since SMB declined to get involved, apparently suggesting it would not be appropriate for them to do so.

On a couple of occasions last year Seema was chased by Mark French at Aria Grace Law for the outstanding amount. He suggested she put in place a payment plan. Seema refused. In April 2024, Gould wrote to Seema using an Aria Grace letterhead. He told her:

“To be treated so shamefully by you is profoundly upsetting. I hope you and Davinder will reflect on this. I see your picture regularly across social media, but you and I now both know the true way you have choose to behave towards me, and in some ways, as you will appreciate, that means towards Rachel [Gould’s wife] as well. This is not a letter I would have chosen to write, but obviously I have no choice. I say this particularly as Mark suggested you pay in instalments or, as I suggested, you make a substantial payment now and the rest say in the next couple of months… I am sure you understand how strange your argument is; that you will not pay anything until you are fully compensated (whatever that might mean).“

Nick Gould left Aria Grace earlier this year. Aria Grace apparently “assigned” Seema’s “debt” to Gould, who gave it to his new firm Impact Law to chase. On 7 April this year, Impact invoiced Seema for £38,800.

Seema again asked for some kind of breakdown of what the bill was supposed to be for. Gould replied:

“I do not propose to spend pages writing a history of the work I carried out for you, Janet and Tracy. No one except the four of us, and maybe Davinder, Paul and Flora know what I did for each of you. You can try and persuade other people who you talk to, differently – we both understand the game of law/lawyers and fees – but, ultimately you know you know the truth/the facts. So we don’t really need to play word games or split hairs.”

Betrayal

Impact have now instructed a firm called Leverets to threaten legal action against Seema for non-payment of Gould’s outstanding invoice. In a letter dated 15 May 2025, Owen Vanstone-Hallam from Leverets wrote:

“Our client demands, by 13 June 2025:

(i) payment of the Debt, totalling £38,800; and
(ii) interest of 8% per annum on the Debt, accruing daily from 21 February 2024 to 14 May 2025, totalling £3,810.
Total: £42,610

If you refuse to pay the Debt and interest within this timeframe, our client will pursue the Debt through the courts… Our client will also seek its costs of pursuing the debt against you.“

Seema was in bits. She got in touch to alert me to the situation. It’s clear she still has a lot of time for Gould, given what he did for her, Janet and Tracy before their convictions were quashed. “We called Paul, Flora and Nick the Dream Team” she told me. Now she feels “betrayed”.

Seema has found a lawyer called Stephen Shotnes, who used to be a partner at SMB. Working in a personal capacity as a friend of Seema’s, he ran the rule over her retainer with Gould. Shotnes has written to Leverets, pointing out a number of things about the way her agreement with Aria Grace was drawn up, not least that:

“Seema was plainly in a vulnerable position and to be regarded by any solicitor as a ‘vulnerable client’. In circumstances such as the above Mr Gould should have advised her in writing to seek independent legal advice about the ‘retainer’ including her other options… Seema was understandably reluctant to question Mr Gould since he had been so supportive of the Post Office victims’ cause and had helped her pro-bono prior to April 2021. The onus is on a solicitor to make sure a vulnerable client is fully aware of all relevant matters and options… This is quite apart of the question of what legitimately chargeable work might have actually been carried out by Mr Gould. His and Aria Grace’s refusal to provide details, although requested by Seema some time ago, is noted.”

Shotnes also noted the 500 hours’ worth of legal services Gould claims to have provided for Seema, Janet and Tracy, telling Leverets:

“Mr Gould is put to strict proof of whether this occurred, when and the specific duration and nature of each item of such legal services… There is also the question of verifying to what extent Mr Gould sought and received instructions in respect of any specific actions.”

I approached Nick Gould, Aria Grace Law, Leverets and Impact Law for comment on the situation. In my email to Leverets, I asked what work Nick Gould was actually billing for, and suggested it was arguable Seema was being taken advantage of by Leverets and Nick Gould. I notified them of my intent to publish a piece on my blog. A barrister called Rupert Butler replied on Thursday, telling me my email was:

“an implicit threat to cause Mr. Gould and/or Leverets and/or Mr. Vanstone-Hallam reputational harm if Mr. Gould instructs Leverets to pursue his claim for an unpaid debt through the civil courts. It is not entirely clear, but this unlawful interference with the due administration of justice appears to be you acting as an agent for Mrs. Misra and it trespasses perilously close to blackmail contrary to s.21 of the Theft Act 1968. In the last week we have already been obliged to warn off another party who has tried to do exactly the same thing as you in your email and there is now a pattern of concerted illegality.“

I replied with an email explaining how journalism works, as it is a process with which Mr Butler seems unfamiliar.

This morning, Nick Gould said:

“I understand you will publish unproven allegations against me today… It is important to note that I am unable to comment due to restrictions put on me by the regulator – the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Allegations against me were sent to the SRA by a person/people who have not been disclosed to me. I am unable to say anything about the various points you have put to me except to say, as you well know , Seema Misra was a client of mine for who I carried out work in connection with the Post Office scandal over several years.

“I would want to say the facts set out in the allegations made against me are untrue but again, as they apparently could relate to more than one person, I am bound by client confidentiality. The full facts and the whole truth are important. I am extremely sorry that Mrs Misra and apparently perhaps others felt it necessary to make numerous unsubstantiated allegations against me. although I obviously don’t know as I haven’t seen your blog. I am responding based on what you sent me yesterday. The allegations made against me are incorrect.“

I contacted the SRA. They will not confirm or deny whether they are investigating Nick Gould. Lindsay Healy, the founder of Aria Grace Law said:

“Aria Grace was founded on principles of open justice, transparency, and service to the public.  We would always do the right thing and that would, of course, extend to Seema.

“Nick Gould is no longer in any way affiliated with Aria Grace. He left our firm in January, and since that time, all work carried out by him is under his new entity, Impact Law, and he has had no connection with this firm whatsoever.  

“We are currently reviewing all our records and files in relation to Seema to ensure that no misleading representation was made to her by Mr Gould during her time as a client at this firm. Our commitment remains to protect the dignity and legal rights of every client we serve, particularly those who have already endured hardship.”

Impact Law have remained silent. I am grateful to Seema for allowing me the opportunity to make her situation public.

---

The journalism on this blog is crowdfunded. If you would like to join the “secret email” newsletter, please consider making a one-off donation. The money is used to keep the contents of this website free. You will receive occasional, irregular but informative email updates about the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.