Wendy Hirst

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Wendy Hirst, a solicitor's clerk at Rafiq & Co., failed to account for £6,000 received from a client (£2,000 cash with signed receipt plus a further £4,000), none of which reached client account. The Law Society sought a section 43 order. The respondent did not appear. The Tribunal found the allegations of utilising and misappropriating clients' funds substantiated and made the section 43 order controlling her future employment in the profession, ordering costs of £955.10. No express finding of dishonesty was recorded and the matter was not reported to police.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money

Mitigating factors:

• No loss to the client as the firm's principal replaced the missing funds