Denise Lesley Huggett

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

Denise Lesley Huggett, a solicitor without a current practising certificate who had ceased practice due to ill health, faced allegations of conduct unbefitting a solicitor for failing to comply with an OSS Adjudicator's direction to pay compensation and reimbursement to a client, failing to deliver an Accountant's Report, and failing to reply to OSS correspondence. She did not attend but submitted an email citing ill health. The Tribunal found the allegations substantiated, made no finding of dishonesty, concluded she was not fit to practise, and suspended her indefinitely, ordered the £200 compensation enforceable as a High Court order, and ordered £2,200 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Advise on alternatives, settlement and outcome
• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper use of client money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports

Mitigating factors:

• Ill health and stress-related illness leading to breakdown
• Only a single client complaint
• No formal medical evidence but Tribunal accepted failures were probably due to ill health