Solicitor struck off after collapse of business

5:30am Friday 7th December 2007

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A SOUTHAMPTON solicitor whose business collapsed when personal difficulties left her unable to cope was thrown out of the profession.

Ellen Huggins, 56, suffered marital problems when she was running the firm Huggins Jensen from offices in The Avenue, the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal heard.

The company fell into chaos and clients were unable to contact the solicitor who appeared to have vanished.

Robert Roscoe, for the Solicitors' Regulatory Authority, said Huggins had ignored the proceedings brought against her by her governing body.

She had been running the practice in June 2005 when customers could not contact her.

Huggins, who also uses the name Brooks, later explained she was "experiencing temporary difficulties".

"She did not disclose that a bankruptcy order had been made against her on June 23, 2005," Mr Roscoe said.

"It was not until the authorities notified the Law Society that she was automatically suspended.

"She indicated she was applying to have the order revoked but she did not do so."

Huggins did not respond to telephone calls and her practice was taken over by the Law Society which found the landlord had bundled up all her papers and dumped them outside her office.

Investigators discovered her accounts had not been properly written up and there was an imbalance in her client fund of several thousand pounds which will have to be repaid by the solicitors compensation fund.

"Generally the picture has been of someone who could not cope with her practice," Mr Roscoe said.

"In the end she could not manage to keep things together. From what she has told me there may have been marital difficulties at the time."

Mr Roscoe said Huggins had told him she was hoping for a reconciliation with her estranged husband.

Huggins of Longfellow Avenue, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, did not indicate a plea to a series of charges including failing to act in the best interests of clients, wrongly taking money from client's accounts and failing to disclose bankruptcy. The disciplinary tribunal found those charges were proved.

Chairman Mr William Hartley said: "This is a sad case. Really it is someone who ceased to be able to cope."

In addition to being struck off the roll of solicitors Huggins was ordered to pay £3,689 in costs.