Darren Hanison

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

Darren Hanison, sole principal of Fortitude Law, faced 17 allegations arising from his handling of medical negligence and product-liability claims between 2015 and 2023. The Tribunal found all allegations proved, including express findings of dishonesty (relating to misleading defendants' solicitors and counsel about costs/fees, wrongful retention of settlement funds, creating fake ATE insurance schedules, submitting a false PII proposal, and misleading the SRA and other parties about ATE insurance). He failed to take instructions, misled clients about settlements, allowed limitation periods to expire, and breached the Accounts Rules as COFA. The Tribunal found his conduct deplorable, motivated by financial gain, and at the highest level of seriousness. Having found no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered him to pay costs of £114,820.64. Mr Hanison did not attend and accepted that strike-off was appropriate.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated over a long period (2015-2023)
• Motivated by financial gain
• Took advantage of trust placed in him and abused his position of power and authority
• Caused significant harm to vulnerable clients and colleagues
• Experienced solicitor (admitted 1995) who knew he was acting dishonestly
• Misconduct at the very highest level of seriousness
• Missed limitation deadlines depriving clients of claims
• Created fake ATE insurance schedules and filed a falsified expert report at court
• Poor/patchy engagement with regulatory proceedings; missed multiple deadlines

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings
• Late admissions of a number of allegations including dishonesty
• Some degree of insight in written mitigation statement
• Accepted strike-off as appropriate sanction