Two veteran barristers were reprimanded and will donate $5,000 each to charity for writing and posting a homophobic notice in the lifts at one of Victoria’s biggest chambers.
Robert Squirrell and John Perry, who have both practised since 1979, admitted to posting an offensive and homophobic notice in the lifts at Owen Dixon Chambers East in early August 2022.
On a document that bore a logo similar to the Victorian Bar’s, the notice claimed members of the “LGBTQMS” were concerned briefs from government and private litigators “have not been disproportionately directed to them” and sought to “investigate” this.
The latter initials were a crude reference to “mud screwers”, a term attributed to a comedian who they claimed had said: “Some guys would screw mud”. The letter also noted that “white, male heterosexuals” would not be eligible to join a sub-committee.
In the disciplinary decision, the vice president of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Judge Caitlin English, said it has the “hall marks of a university prank, were it not for the age of the protagonists and the offensive nature of the notice”.
“Both messages, of sexual deviancy and undeserved briefs, convey an impermissible attitude to the LGBTQI community and are antithetical to the inherent principles relevant to the uniform and consistent application of the law and general principles of equality, fairness, diversity and inclusion,” Judge English said.
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