Clyde & Co: Staff afraid to give evidence
The High Court has granted leading firm Clyde & Co an injunction banning a man from its Birmingham office after his repeated visits made staff feel “vulnerable and anxious”.
Her Honour Judge Carmel Wall, sitting as a High Court judge, said the behaviour of Christopher Kennedy caused the firm to spend an extra £1,000 per week on security.
The firm and partner Julian Smart, both on his own and as representative of other staff at the firm’s Birmingham office, sought final injunctive relief under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 to stop Mr Kennedy attending the office and its immediate vicinity, having been granted an interim injunction last July.
They said Mr Kennedy “caused harassment to its workforce by attending repeatedly at the Birmingham office, despite being banned and having no legitimate business there”.
He had “entered the reception area, sometimes by tailgating others” and remained when asked to leave.
He had filmed security and reception staff without their permission, uploading unauthorised footage onto social media “alongside other posts that contain offensive references” to Clyde & Co.
HHJ Wall said: “The persistent conduct of the defendant has made the first claimant’s workforce at the Birmingham office feel vulnerable and anxious in their place of work.”
The judge said Mr Kennedy accepted that he had visited the firm’s Birmingham office “on many occasions”, but his visits were “for a legitimate purpose and have not been as frequent or on the dates alleged”.
Much of the firm’s evidence was anonymised because witnesses were afraid to be identified, she noted, with Mr Smart explaining that Mr Kennedy had made a threat to “bury him” and said he would “see him in the ground” following an interlocutory hearing.
The judge said she had “no hesitation” in believing that this occurred. “It is entirely consistent with the way in which the defendant has conducted himself before me.”
She described Mr Kennedy as having been “argumentative, confrontational and rude” during the two-day trial.
“At times he has been abusive and offensive in his remarks. He has persistently tried to intimidate by threatening [Mr Smart], counsel and the court that he will make professional complaints and commence legal actions, when he disagrees with what others say.
“He will not listen to others or let them express any view that is contrary to his. His approach is to talk over the top of them and prevent civilised exchange. Where there are facts that do not suit him, he pretends they do not exist.”
Mr Kennedy’s grievance with Clyde & Co relates to work done by its Manchester office. It was instructed by another law firm’s insurer to defend a negligence claim he brought against that firm after being given a four-year sentence for drugs offences in 2012/13.
He claimed that a representative of the insurer had told him he had won his case and Mr Kennedy believed Clyde & Co was then obliged to facilitate the payment of compensation to him.
“That contention is misconceived,” observed HHJ Wall. “It fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the solicitor-client relationship.”
Clyde & Co ceased acting in March 2022, when it emerged the wrong company had been identified as insuring the other law firm.
Then there were two cases involving the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). In the first, Mr Kennedy was joined as the uninsured defendant but took no part in it. He claimed this was because he was in prison.
The MIB settled the claim for £25,000. Mr Kennedy responded by launching a human rights action against the MIB, which was represented by Clyde & Co. The claim was struck out as totally without merit and Mr Kennedy ordered to pay £14,000 in costs to the MIB.
In the second, Mr Kennedy suffered “serious personal injuries” at the hands of an uninsured driver and the MIB, again represented by Clyde & Co, awarded him £14,000 in compensation, which it offset against the costs order.
HHJ Wall said: “The defendant is aggrieved by this outcome. His characterisation of it is that he has not been compensated for injury he sustained.
“He blames [Clyde & Co] for this outcome and for the MIB deciding to offset the debt he owed against the compensation due to him.”
Mr Kennedy made his first visit to Clyde & Co’s Birmingham office in February 2022 and then at other times that year. The police were called and staff advised not to wear their badges outside the office.
There was a break until January 2024 and more visits in March 2024. The following month Clyde & Co “paid to increase its security presence at a cost of £1,000 per week”.
Granting the order sought by the law firm, the judge said it would be “without limit of time”.
She added that Mr Kennedy’s conduct in the proceedings had “arisen out of grievances he has harboured for very many years” and there was “no indication that his view will change in the foreseeable future”.
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