Elizabeth Forrest

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

Elizabeth Forrest, an experienced solicitor acting as Court of Protection Receiver/Deputy for vulnerable Client A, failed over many years (2006-2022) to transfer the client's property into his name, to formalise the tenancy, to ensure the client benefitted from rental income, and to commence breach of trust proceedings. She also submitted annual OPG reports signed with statements of truth that were incomplete/inaccurate. The dishonesty allegation on Allegation 3 was withdrawn by the SRA; the Tribunal expressly found no dishonesty. Allegations 1 and 2 were admitted in full and Allegation 3 admitted save for dishonesty. The matter was resolved by agreed outcome on the papers, with the Tribunal imposing a six-month suspension and ordering costs of £16,821.18.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Client A was a vulnerable person subject to a Court of Protection Order
• Misconduct was repeated and sustained over a long period of time
• Respondent was an experienced solicitor who acted in breach of a position of trust

Mitigating factors:

• No personal gain and no misapplication of client money
• Suffered ill-health and was on long-term sick leave Feb 2016 to Jan 2017
• Self-reported to her employer and later disclosed failures to the OPG
• Showed some insight and put safeguards in place
• Co-operated with the SRA and avoided a contested hearing
• No previous disciplinary findings
• Subsequent unblemished practice