Elizabeth Forrest

Introduction

Elizabeth Forrest is a solicitor who qualified in 1995 and practised at Meikles Solicitors in Durham, where for more than a decade she held a court-appointed role safeguarding the finances of a vulnerable child. In August 2026, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) suspended her from practice for six months and ordered her to pay £16,800 in costs after she admitted misconduct spanning 2006 to 2022, a period of more than fifteen years. The case became a study in how a position of trust can be eroded not by dramatic wrongdoing or personal gain, but by years of inaction, poor communication and inaccurate reporting to the regulator that was supposed to be checking her work.

Background Information

Forrest’s path to the tribunal began with a family tragedy. When Client A’s father died in 1997, the boy was left a house worth £130,000. He was too young to manage the property, so ownership was listed under the names of the administrators of his father’s estate, and the house was rented out. In 2006, the Court of Protection appointed Forrest as Client A’s deputy for property and financial affairs, giving her legal responsibility for protecting his interests in the property and its rental income. The tribunal later found she took on that role despite knowing that she did not have any relevant experience. SDT documents would eventually reveal severe delays and a breakdown in communication between Forrest, the administrator of Client A’s estate, and the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) over several years.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated. Forrest admitted the misconduct in documents of fact put before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which suspended her for six months and ordered her to pay £16,800 in costs. These are regulatory findings, not criminal convictions. The SRA withdrew an allegation of dishonesty, and an OPG investigation found her removal as Client A’s deputy to be sufficient.

The heart of the case was what Forrest failed to do. She admitted failing to act in the best interests of Client A, a child, from 2006 to 2022: she never transferred the property into his name, and she failed to ensure that the rental income from the house was paid to him. The SDT found that her inaction ‘caused harm’ by jeopardising Client A’s interests in the property, the value of which diminished after one of the administrators took out a mortgage for £20,000 against it. The tribunal also found her culpable because she had acted in breach of a position of trust and had direct control of the circumstances giving rise to the misconduct.

Forrest further admitted submitting annual reports to the OPG between 2006 and 2022 which were signed with a statement of truth, knowing the contents were incomplete or inaccurate. The tribunal found that ‘despite being an experienced solicitor’, she ‘did not act with the integrity, probity and trustworthiness expected of a solicitor’.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The misconduct came to light through Forrest’s own firm. On 6 September 2022, Meikles Solicitors reported her to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in respect of her management of Client A’s case, and she left the firm shortly afterwards. She subsequently asked to be removed as Client A’s deputy, and an OPG investigation found her removal to be sufficient; the SRA later withdrew an allegation of dishonesty. In mitigation, the SDT noted that Forrest had suffered from ill health and had been on long-term sick leave between February 2016 and January 2017, that her actions were not planned, and that she did not gain personally or financially. Even so, the tribunal concluded the misconduct was ‘repeated and sustained’ and that ‘a reprimand or fine is not a sufficient sanction’. The Gazette’s report framed the case as a solicitor who ‘failed to take appropriate steps’ to protect the interests of her vulnerable client over more than a decade.

Current Status

Forrest is serving a six-month suspension from practice, which began on 20 July 2026, and she has been ordered to pay £16,800 in costs. She is no longer Client A’s deputy, having asked to be removed from that role after her firm’s report to the SRA, and the OPG treated her removal as bringing that chapter to a close.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The suspension and costs order cap a legal career that began in 1995 and effectively ended in September 2022, when Forrest left Meikles shortly after the firm itself reported her to the regulator. Her departure from the deputyship severed her formal role in Client A’s affairs, and the SDT’s published finding that she fell short of the integrity, probity and trustworthiness expected of a solicitor now forms a permanent part of her regulatory record. Because the tribunal found the misconduct was ‘repeated and sustained’, spanning the entire sixteen-year life of her deputyship, the case stands as a caution about inexperienced solicitors taking on Court of Protection roles, and about the annual reporting safeguards that exist precisely to catch this kind of drift.

Sources

• Law Gazette, “Solicitor suspended for misconduct lasting over 15 years,” Aug 13, 2026 — source