Legal Cheek report..
Regulators are under pressure to dish out more than brief suspensions
Between 19 and 22 January 2021, the bar disciplinary tribunal made professional misconduct findings against four barristers, one on each day.
First came Dominic Woolard, who admitted to “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature” involving a junior female colleague, including slapping her on the bottom and pulling her on to his lap. He was fined £6,000.
Then there was Craig Charles Tipper, who also confessed to “intentional sexual touching” of not one but two junior female barristers in what the tribunal said was “capable of amounting to… sexual assault”. This included putting his hand down one woman’s tights and grabbing her breast over her bra. He was suspended for three months.
In between those two cases, the tribunal dealt with two others with no sexual element. One barrister, a 38-year bar veteran, had appeared in court without a valid practising certificate. He was suspended for four months. Another had failed to co-operate with the regulator over previous fines, earning him a suspension of three years.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Many lawyers see a pattern emerging where the regulator hands down tougher sanctions for what might be called purely professional misconduct, like operating without a practising certificate, than for at times quite serious sexual misconduct.
Read their full report at https://www.legalcheek.com/2021/02/barristers-are-demanding-tougher-sanctions-for-sexual-misconduct-at-the-bar/
