Barrister fined after she compared lawyer to lisping Violet Elizabeth
IN legal dramas, courtroom theatrics are frequently the undoing of tricky witnesses and wily opponents.
But in the real world they are frowned upon – as an experienced barrister discovered after humiliating a more junior lawyer during an employment tribunal.
Althea Brown mimicked her less seasoned colleague and made disparaging comments about her. She branded the woman a liar and aped her submissions in a ‘noticeably different and disrespectful tone to her usual voice’.
At one point she compared her opponent – referred to only as Miss C – to Violet Elizabeth Bott of the Just William books, suggesting her submissions put her in mind of the literary brat’s lisping catchphrase: ‘I’m going to scream and scream until I’m sick.’
She has now been fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £5,820 costs after the Bar Standards Board found she had treated her peer in a ‘patronising manner’. In his ruling, tribunal chairman Judge Witold Pawlak said: ‘Miss Brown’s opponent was 22 years her junior in call [to the bar]. Miss Brown... adopted an aggressive and disruptive approach. It was conduct verging on bullying.’
Miss Brown, – an expert in industrial relations, according to her online biography – joined Doughty Street Chambers in London in 1995 and specialises in civil liberties. Lawyers there have included Sir Keir Starmer.
The BSB hearing in High Holborn, central London, was told the unprofessional conduct occurred at a two-day employment tribunal in 2019. Miss Brown imitated her opponent by ‘silently mouthing her words when the judge wasn’t looking’
‘Aggressive and disruptive’
and ‘made reference to her seniority over Miss C’. The comparison to Bott, played by Bonnie Langford in the 1970s TV adaptation, unfairly suggested Miss C was ‘behaving in a ... petulant manner’.
The tribunal also found Miss Brown suggested Miss C had ‘intellectual difficulty’ in understanding her case and accused her of an untruthful statement ‘without reasonable basis’. Miss Brown even mimicked Miss C’s instructing solicitor.
The case was abandoned. The judge in the case said Miss Brown apologised after Miss C ‘sent a note... stating she was not well due to the bullying and insulting behaviour’.
Miss C told the board: ‘I felt I could not continue as I had been subjected to so many nasty comments.’