Judith Mary Winship

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

Sole practitioner solicitor admitted in 1994 practised for a full indemnity year while in breach of the Solicitors' Indemnity Insurance Rules by failing to pay her ARP premium. An OSS inspection found unmaintained books of account and a client account shortage of £1,809.05 arising from overpayments. She consciously and improperly withdrew client funds, including paying cash to a potential client (Mr T) using other clients' money and repaying a personal loan from client account; she also borrowed £4,000 of charity funds via a trustee without advising independent advice. Dishonesty was not alleged or found, but the Tribunal found conduct unbefitting a solicitor of the most serious kind. She was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £6,036.49.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Professional indemnity insurance

Aggravating factors:

• Continued to practise for a full indemnity year while knowingly in breach of insurance rules
• Conscious, wilful and deliberate withdrawals of client funds
• Used clients' funds to pay a third party (Mr T) and to repay a personal loan
• Borrowed charity funds without advising the trustee to obtain independent advice while in financial difficulty

Mitigating factors:

• Genuine personal and professional financial difficulties
• Medical/health evidence submitted
• Character references in support
• Admitted the allegations
• Trusted Mr T to repay and was confident money would be returned