A sole practitioner issued with a rebuke for incompetence has failed to overturn the sanction on appeal.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority found that Nancy Ballard, admitted in November 2002, failed to progress the timely administration and distribution of an estate for which she was appointed sole executrix in her capacity as a solicitor and partner at Essex firm Davis Solicitors. The beneficiary of the estate complained that unexplained delays had caused her stress and anxiety.
Davis Solicitors was appointed executors in 2016. When the client died in 2019, Ballard retrieved the will and told the family she would begin the administration of the estate. However, there was a delay in obtaining the death certificate due to the death having taken place in Iran.
In 2022 the legal ombudsman upheld a complaint of poor service made by the sole beneficiary. The decision highlighted that Ballard had failed to progress the estate and failed to communicate with the beneficiary.
Ballard applied for grant of probate at the end of May 2024. Probate was granted on 27 August that year, but as of 6 July 2025 distribution of the estate was still only partially complete.
Ballard was found to have failed to provide a competent service and so breached paragraph 3.2 of the Code of Conduct for Solicitors and outcome 1.5 of the SRA Handbook 2011.
The solicitor’s regulatory history shows she was issued with a letter of warning on 29 May 2024, ‘which would suggest that there is a pattern of behaviour’, the SRA found. She had failed to take account of relevant information her client had provided, instead relying on her memory, whereas a review of the client file showed that the information had been received.
Ballard was issued with a written rebuke and ordered to pay £1,350 costs. She avoided a more serious sanction because she made no personal gain, was not dishonest and took remedial action by updating the firms’ probate management process.
Ballard appealed the rebuke but her appeal was refused by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last month.
