Pavlovic: Cases can reach the national press
The increasing number of sexual misconduct cases being handled by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) is fuelling a rise in anonymity requests, regulatory lawyers have said.
Andrew Pavlovic, partner at London firm CM Murray, said the success of an anonymity request depended on the quality of the medical evidence and it had to be assumed that the issues raised were genuine and solicitors were not “working the system”.
We reported earlier this month about a partner who was suspended for two years for sexual misconduct but his identity kept secret. The SDT said medical evidence showed that unredacted publication of its ruling was likely to cause him “serious harm”.
In a YouTube video on anonymity in SDT proceedings, Mr Pavlovic agreed with fellow regulatory partner Beth Hale that there had been a rise in anonymity requests.
He said it was “down to the nature of the cases” coming to the SDT, which historically tended to be examples of financial misconduct, which would result in a “certain degree of embarrassment” to the solicitor involved.
“What we’re seeing now are allegations of sexual misconduct being investigated and prosecuted which have the potential to seriously damage the reputation of the individual.
“We know that they are reported in the legal press and some even reach the national press.”
Mr Pavlovic said that as the SRA investigated “more and more of these issues”, there would be more potential for them to damage lawyers’ reputations.
Ms Hale said that while it was “rare for someone accused of misusing client funds to make it to the front page of the tabloids”, it was “not unheard of” for stories about solicitors who harassed their colleagues to make it to the mainstream media.
Mr Pavlovic said anonymity requests from solicitors accused of misconduct “came back to the quality of the medical evidence”.
He went on: “If you have a report from a psychiatrist or anyone else saying there is a risk to life, it would be a brave regulator or tribunal to rule against that and carry on.
“You have to weigh up the issues. We have to assume that these issues are genuine and people aren’t working the system. They will be tested quite vigorously by the SRA and the tribunal.”
In the case earlier this month, he noted, the SDT granted the solicitor anonymity after his legal team and the SRA jointly instructed a psychological expert.
They looked at the report and “considered that they were happy to make a joint application for anonymity”, which was not always the case as the SRA sometimes resisted anonymity requests.
Mr Pavlovic said the SRA was “usually pretty robust” in its approach and “would only deviate in exceptional circumstances”.
Any medical report used for an anonymity request needed to be up to date, by someone who actually had the expertise, and it needed to deal with the question of whether any reasonable adjustments or steps could be taken to mitigate the risks.
It would be presented first to the SRA and then to the tribunal, as either an agreed position or where there was a disagreement and the tribunal had to make a decision.
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