Taxi: The incident continued in a cab
A senior male barrister found to have engaged in “unwanted sexual conduct” towards a woman has been reprimanded and fined £3,000 by a Bar disciplinary tribunal.
Kevin Barry, who practises at The 36 Group and is listed on its website as one of the chambers’ equal opportunities officers, was sanctioned for an incident in October 2014. It is not clear when it was reported.
According to the brief details published by the tribunal on Friday, “he engaged in unwanted sexual conduct towards X in that he touched X’s face, telling her that she was beautiful and attempting to kiss her, whilst at a bar door, without X’s consent; placed his hand down the top of X’s skirt and squeezed her bottom on more than one occasion at the bar door without X’s consent; and ran his hand up and down X’s thigh on more than one occasion, in a taxi, without X’s consent”.
As a result, Mr Barry acted in a way that was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in the profession. The tribunal decision is still open to appeal.
Mr Barry was called in 1997 and specialises in cybercrime, complex economic crime matters, and consumer/trading standards law.
His LinkedIn profile describes him as “fighting whichever corner I find myself in with grit, determination and skill”.
Among his high-profile recent cases were prosecuting and securing a 10-year prison sentence last year against Grant West, described as a “one-man cybercrime wave” for selling data on thousands of customers stolen from Sainsburys, Asda, Argos, Uber and Ladbrokes on the dark web.
He is a contributing editor to two leading textbooks, Consumer & Trading Standards, Law and Practice and Modern Financial Regulation.
Mr Barry has not responded to efforts to contact him, while his Twitter account has been disabled.
We have approached The 36 Group for comment.
