Surgical mesh: SRA received complaints for two years before shutting down firm
A solicitor who acted for hundreds of women in vaginal mesh claims has been struck off for “deplorable” conduct which involved “a profound failure to protect his clients’ interests”.
Darren Hanison either admitted to or was found guilty of 17 allegations of professional misconduct, several involving dishonesty, which the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) said were “at the very highest level of seriousness”.
Campaign group Sling the Mesh said: “These women and men placed their trust in a legal professional at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Instead of support, they were deceived and used.
“This was not just unethical it was a serious abuse of power and a re‑traumatisation with another authority figure taking advantage of people already harmed by systemic failure.”
The SDT heard that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) started receiving complaints about Mr Hanison – sole principal of Fortitude Law – in April 2021 and it eventually closed the firm in May 2023 [1] because of suspected dishonesty.
Mr Hanison, 56, qualified in 1995 and set up Fortitude in 2015. He did not attend the hearing, citing mental health difficulties.
Among the findings were that he failed to take client instructions on offers, misled opponents on offers, misled clients about settlements, made misleading costs demands to opposing solicitors, and retained more money from settlements that he was entitled to.
By giving one client just the sum she would receive under a settlement (£335,000) rather than the global figure (£525,000), the implication was that Mr Hanison wanted to maximise the amount retained by the firm, rather than acting in her best interests, the SDT heard.
In the same case, he lied to leading and junior counsel that the defendants were refusing to pay their fees, leading to them settling for nearly half of what they were due.
He let another client’s after-the-event (ATE) insurance lapse without telling her and misled other parties about its existence too, including the SRA. He altered the ATE insurance schedule he sent the regulator to make it look like it was still valid.
Mr Hanison also created multiple false ATE policy schedules to give the impression to clients and others that cover was in place when it was not.
Mr Hansion was responsible for filing a falsified expert’s report at court, while he left several other clients unable to pursue their claims because he let the limitation period expire.
The solicitor failed to disclose the fact that Fortitude Law had been subject to an SRA investigation in a professional indemnity insurance proposal and breached the SRA accounts rules too.
In a submission to the SDT, Mr Hanison said he accepted “full responsibility for the admitted conduct”.
He went on: “My current mental health difficulties arose following a heart attack in January 2023, which occurred after the period of misconduct. Those health issues are not advanced as an explanation or justification for the dishonest conduct…
“Since these events, I have reflected upon the ethical failures involved and accept that, irrespective of personal circumstances, I bore an overriding professional obligation to act with integrity at all times.”
The SDT described his conduct as “deplorable”.
It continued: “There had been a profound failure to protect his clients’ interests. His misconduct had been deliberate, calculated and repeated over a long period and had caused significant harm to his clients and colleagues.
“He had taken advantage of trust placed in him. He had, in the most egregious way, abused his position of power and authority. The tribunal found that Mr Hanison was motivated by financial gain.”
The SDT struck him off and ordered him to pay the SRA costs of £115,000.