Let off, barrister who headbutted a woman colleague after dinner

A tOP barrister who headbutted a female lawyer, leaving her covered in blood on the ground, was spared being struck off.

Disciplinary chiefs handed London lawman Rashid Ahmed just a threemonth suspension over a drunken attack on Chelsea’s upmarket King’s Road.

Ahmed, an immigration law specialist, left his junior colleague ‘on the pavement, on her back’, with ‘blood all over her face, and surrounded by members of the public’.

Ahmed, a deputy head of chambers, was restrained by passers-by and seen still clenching his fists. He was convicted over the assault in April 2018 and handed a 12month community order.

A Bar disciplinary tribunal has now sided against kicking Ahmed from the profession

–despite ruling he had undermined public confidence. It insisted Ahmed was ‘not a risk to the public’, and had ‘shown insight’. But critics say the suspension is further evidence of regulators showing leniency to barristers guilty of crimes. Last month, a barrister received a four-month suspension after attacking a woman.

the Bar tribunals and Adjudication Service heard how violence erupted when Ahmed and his unnamed victim had a meal and talked about money. It started with Mr Ahmed throwing water and an ashtray before he was seen ‘to grab her, shake her, push her up against a pillar...’ Ahmed then tried ‘one headbutt that missed’, and then ‘ a second headbutt to her face’, making contact ‘just above her nose, close to the eye’. A member of the public was still restraining Ahmed when the police arrived, and he was handcuffed after a short struggle. He spent 48 hours in a cell.

Ahmed admitted a single charge of professional misconduct – behaving in a way likely to diminish public trust in the profession. Chairman Paul Ozin, QC, said: ‘ While we accept that this was a single incident that was the result of

‘Blood all over her face’

particular circumstances, we note that it occurred over an extended period of time in the early evening and that its context was a continuing episode starting with an alcoholfuelled argument over lunch.’

Ahmed was initially handed a suspended jail term after admitting assault. the conviction was later swapped for a community order and unpaid work following an appeal. An appeal judge cited Ahmed’s ‘ exemplary character’ and ‘genuine remorse’.

A Bar Standards Board spokesman denied the tribunal’s decision was too lenient, saying: ‘Being convicted of any form of assault is a serious matter for barristers and the tribunal’s decision to suspend Mr Ahmed from practice reflects this.’