Barrister: “Clearly drunken state”
A barrister has been reprimanded and fined for his drunken behaviour towards a pupil at an informal Bar Mess event.
Robert Kearney was fined £1,000 for behaving in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in a barrister.
According to a Bar tribunal decision published today, in October 2017 he attended the Bar Mess event in a restaurant, where he was “in a clearly drunken state”.
It continued that he “sat uncomfortably close to one of the pupils, whom he had never met before, put an arm around him engaging in excessively physical and unwanted contact”.
He was further found to have made “uncomfortable, hostile and intimidating statements, including that he, Mr Kearney, had ‘buttfucked another chambers dry’”.
The third finding was that Mr Kearney, who was called in 1996, had directed an “uncomfortable, hostile and intimidating question to the pupil, after first asking his age, namely whether he had ‘ever taken a woman from behind’”.
A full report of the tribunal hearing will be published in due course.
Meanwhile, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) announced today that South London law firm Capsticks has won the tender to provide it with external legal advice and support.
The firm’s remit will include advising on any legal challenges to the BSB’s regulatory decisions and in other matters in which the BSB may require third-party specialist advice.
Capsticks is already the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s external legal adviser.
BSB director of professional conduct, Sara Jagger, said: “Their response to our tender was excellent and they were able to demonstrate substantial experience in regulatory and disciplinary law.”
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