A disgraced former solicitor who abandoned his clients with no reasonable explanation has been ordered to repay £92,000 and hit with indemnity costs, after a judge found he seriously abused the court’s process.
Darren Hanison was on record to represent six women who brought vaginal mesh claims against the NHS, as part of a larger cohort of 305 claimants linked to the proceedings.
Hanison failed to lodge the papers ahead of a hearing in 2022 which caused it to be relisted. Hanison’s firm, Fortitude Law, was shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2023 over his suspected dishonesty. In February this year he was struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal after facing 17 allegations including dishonesty, misleading clients, poor service and serious regulatory breaches.
At a hearing to deal with costs issues relating to the mesh claims, the defendants in the six linked claims requested that Hanison repay £92,000 in various payments made on account. They also asked that the former solicitor should pay the costs of the aborted hearing in 2022, as well as costs associated with the detailed assessment proceedings for the six claims.
Source: The Law Society Gazette, 6 August 2026
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