Laura Elizabeth Simpson

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

Laura Elizabeth Simpson, a solicitor at Switalskis Solicitors, misled Client A on three occasions between June and July 2023 by stating she had not received an expert report (from Mr Raine-Fenning) when she had, in order to buy herself time as she was swamped with work and faced a challenging client. She admitted the allegation, including dishonesty. The Tribunal found the allegation proved and, applying Bolton and Sharma, found no exceptional circumstances to justify a lesser sanction. She was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £3,000 (reduced from the £30,330 claimed).

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Proven and admitted dishonesty
• Conduct was planned/deliberate
• Breach of trust placed in her by Client A
• Caused harm to Client A's mental health and wellbeing
• Experienced solicitor, qualified in 2009

Mitigating factors:

• Full admission at the outset and cooperation
• Misconduct limited to this single matter
• Apologised and accepted conduct was unacceptable
• Heavy caseload of complex cases at the time
• No previous disciplinary matters