MENTAL HEALTH
By Nicola Laver
The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) welcomed a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) finding that a junior solicitor's mental ill-health amounted to exceptional circumstances contributing to her conduct. Susan Orton was suspended rather than struck off, and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs. The JLD has been calling for the regulator and the SDT to give greater weight to the impact of mental illness when decided to prosecute or determine cases. It said mental ill-health is rife at the junior end of the profession. 19 October 2020