A solicitor has been suspended from practice for six months and ordered to pay £16,800 in costs after she ‘failed to take appropriate steps’ to protect the interests of her vulnerable client over more than a decade.
Elizabeth Forrest qualified in 1995 and was a solicitor at Meikles Solicitors, Durham. She admitted to misconduct spanning a period from 2006 to 2022 in documents of fact put before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
Forrest admitted failing to act in the best interests of a child, referred to as Client A in the judgment, from 2006 to 2022, regarding a house worth £130,000 left to him when his father died in 1997.
Client A was too young to look after the house so ownership was listed under the names of the administrators of the father’s estate, and the property was rented out.
The SDT said Forrest was culpable as she had acted in breach of a position of trust and had had direct control of the circumstances giving rise to the misconduct.
