Above the Law Report
London-based attorney Linda Lu has made her way through a number of Biglaw firms during the course of her career, including Fried Frank, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Now she’ll be getting a very different view of the legal system — from jail. And it’s all because of a garden hedge.
In October, Lu, along with her mother, Susan Chen, was convicted of stalking that caused serious alarm or distress. Last week, they were sentenced to five and a half years in jail. As reported by Legal Cheek, the judge was appalled by their behavior:
On sentencing, Judge James House KC said that the pair had begun a “persistent, calculated and appalling series of behaviours designed to cause the victims the maximum distress possible”, adding that it was “one of the most serious cases of this kind that this court has had to deal with”.
So what exactly happened? Well, in July 2023, Lu’s neighbors, James and Lynn Smith, attempted to trim the hedge between their property and the one rented by Chen. That resulted in Lu “threatening him with legal action from an upstairs window.” But it didn’t stop there.
Videos recorded by Mr Smith, which were played in court, reportedly showed Chen and Lu “shouting derogatory abuse”, including the use of terms such as “retards”.
The actions continued for more than two months following the initial dispute, and included alleged “periods of loud metallic banging”, according to the BBC’s report.
Before being convicted, Lu and Chen were sent community protection notices, warning letters, and arrested on several occasions — none of which stopped their behavior.
In addition to being jailed for more than five years, orders of protection were also granted to the victims, their family, other witnesses, or their employers preventing Lu and Chen from contacting them. Lu and Chen cannot be anywhere those people may be or even enter the village of Bassingham.
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