Ex-student says she felt ‘hunted’ at firm’s party

Two women say the treatment they suffered as aspiring lawyers with holiday jobs at a leading firm made them question their career choice.

One of the women said events at a Russell McVeagh Christmas party in 2015 changed her life irrevocably, leading her to move cities and follow a branch of the law that was not her first choice.

The other tearfully talked about abuse of power and her anxiety in certain situations that still affected her.

‘‘I didn’t want to become a lawyer if this was how it was,’’ she told the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal sitting in Wellington yesterday.

She felt like a field mouse being hunted when a former partner at the firm cornered her at the party, she said. He invasively put his arm around her waist and ‘‘nuzzled’’ the side of her face and neck, as if he was going to kiss her.

The man, whose name is suppressed at least until the tribunal makes its decision, faced seven professional disciplinary charges. Through his lawyer he apologised to the first two women who had given evidence.

At the hearing he has put the facts in issue, with his lawyer Julian Long, suggesting to one woman that the incident she described might be a social misunderstanding. He asked the other if alleged deliberate touching running his hands up and down her body so that he touched her breast, might just have been bad dancing.

‘‘I don’t think it was accidental,’’ she said.

Long also asked if tracing wine stains on her clothing so that the man’s hand touched her breast could have been a joke. The women rejected the suggestions. Both said the man was very drunk, and one said she thought he was a high-functioning alcoholic.

Russell McVeagh reached a confidential settlement with some complainants after allegations emerged of inappropriate behaviour at the firm.

One of the women agreed that the terms of the settlement did not stop her complaining to the Law Society. It was not until she had studied ethics at university that she realised the Law Society should surely do something about it.

At the tribunal hearing, a lawyer acting for the committee that considers national standards for lawyers, Tim Bain, said power, and power imbalance, was a theme of the case.

Russell McVeagh held itself out to be a leading law firm to work for, and student lawyers on summer internships were effectively on a three-month interview for their dream job, Bain said.

Being a lawyer naturally meant being a person in a position of power, and there was an inherent and stark imbalance between a senior lawyer and an aspiring lawyer, he said.

At a Christmas party it was alleged the lawyer sexually assaulted four students.

Not long after, the lawyer invited people to his house for another Christmas party.

A fifth student was in a sauna with him, both were partially clothed and the lawyer kissed and touched her intimately, Bain said.

The facts of that incident were admitted, but it remained an issue whether the lawyer had acted inappropriately.

The hearing is due to last a week.