Ocado: Solicitor’s conduct did not affect underlying claim
A senior City partner who told a client to “burn” a private messaging app after it was served with a search order has been suspended for two years.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) said it agreed with the High Court that Raymond John McKeeve action was “a spontaneous act of ‘colossal stupidity’”.
The SDT said he was not a litigator and “lacked a detailed working knowledge of the implications of the search order”.
In October 2022, Mr McKeeve was fined £25,000 for a criminal contempt of court in deliberately interfering with the purpose of the search order.
The SDT heard that Mr McKeeve was authorised as a registered foreign lawyer by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in 2017. At the time of his misconduct, he was a partner at international law firm Jones Day, specialising in private equity.
The tribunal granted the solicitor’s application that several of the individuals and parties involved be anonymised, despite them being named in the High Court judgment. The SRA did not oppose this.
The High Court recorded that Mr McKeeve was acting for a company, Today Development Partners (TDP), set up by one of the founders of Ocado and that was trying to get Marks & Spencer’s grocery delivery business.
The high street giant went instead with Ocado, which then became aware of events behind the scenes and believed TDP had misappropriated its confidential information.
Ocado obtained a search of premises and preservation of evidence order. There was a substantial underlying claim and counterclaim.
Within minutes of being notified of the order, as it was being executed, Mr McKeeve instructed his client’s IT manager to “Burn it”.
The manager then deleted or disabled various IT accounts including one known as the 3CX app, a private messaging system which contained a ‘burner box’ facility that, if used, would destroy the communications held on it. As a result, any messages sent via 3CX were irretrievable.
Mr McKeeve subsequently apologised and referred himself to the SRA.
He told the High Court that he had no idea what the search order related to or what in practice it meant but was “immediately concerned” about the fact the name of his wife – the at the time newly elected Brexit Party MEP Belinda de Luce – had been used on 3CX as an alias for a senior Ocado employee who had helped TDP and was on gardening leave ahead of joining it.
The SDT said that, notwithstanding Mr McKeeve’s lack of specialist litigation expertise, he “should have recognised that material subject to a court order must not be destroyed”.
But the SRA accepted that the case “did not involve a sustained conspiracy or prolonged campaign of concealment”.
Mr McKeeve admitted that he had failed to act with integrity, uphold the rule of law and proper administration of justice or maintain public trust in the profession.
The SDT found that Mr McKeeve’s motivation was to prevent embarrassment being caused to his wife; he was “frustrated and annoyed at himself for having permitted the line between his personal and professional life to become blurred”.
It continued: “[His] motivation was not to implement a pre-arranged plan to destroy potentially relevant documents, his actions were not inspired by a conspiracy but rather a spontaneous act of ‘colossal stupidity’.”
Being found criminally liable for contempt of court “significantly undermined public confidence in the profession”, although he had co-operated with the SRA throughout its investigation, it was “a single episode of very brief duration within the context of a previously unblemished professional career” and Mr McKeeve had “demonstrated insight, remorse, and remediation”.
The SDT decided that the mitigation meant a strike-off was not appropriate; instead it ordered a two-year suspension. “Public confidence in the legal profession demanded no lesser sanction.”
The solicitor was suspended as a registered foreign lawyer for two years and ordered to pay costs of £20,000.
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