GET OUT OF THE DARK AGES
Lennon blasts group’s failure to condemn misogyny and sexism
SCOTLAND’S legal watchdog was urged to “drag itself out of the dark ages” after it failed to call out the sexism of a top QC.
The call comes after the Daily Record revealed how advocate Brian McConnachie sent texts about the head of Scotland’s largest rape charity saying he would “shag” her “just to have something over her”.
Monica Lennon MSP said the Faculty of Advocates should have condemned the “blatant misogyny and sexism” of his messages about Sandy Brindley, the head of Rape Crisis Scotland.
But the Faculty ruled the sexist message didn’t constitute “unsatisfactory professional conduct” despite QCs being bound by a code to conduct themselves with honour and integrity in their personal and professional lives.
Lennon said: “It’s alarming the Faculty of Advocates cannot recognise blatant misogyny and sexism, especially when aimed at the woman leading Rape Crisis Scotland.”
The messages were shared by a woman as evidence for a formal complaint she lodged with the Faculty concerning McConnachie’s professional conduct.
In its ruling on the case, the body’s disciplinary committee failed to raise any concerns over the sexist nature of McConnachie’s message – only going as far as to say it was “distasteful”.
It said it “concerned only McConnachie’s feelings and wishes about hypothetical sexual activity that he might engage in” with Brindley.
McConnachie, a former high court prosecutor, also sent a message containing claims that another male QC had told him he wanted to have sex with Brindley.
Although this was found to be unsatisfactory professional conduct, the Faculty said it was because McConnachie was showing “disloyalty” to another advocate.
Labour’s Lennon has backed calls from Rape Crisis Scotland demanding the Faculty take urgent steps to tackle misogyny in its ranks. This week it called McConnachie’s references to its chief exec “unacceptable”.
Lennon said: “The Faculty needs to drag itself out of the dark ages and tackle the toxic culture that allows powerful men to belittle women in the workplace.’
On the same date of the Brindley messages, McConnachie sent a sexually explicit photograph to the woman at 4.01pm declaring he was in an aroused state in the toilets of Livingston High Court.
McConnachie had just finished defending a rape accused.
The Committee unanimously agreed it didn’t amount to unsatisfactory professional conduct.
However the committee did find he had been guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct when he called an unnamed client a “lying c***”, as this was insulting conduct beneath the standard expected of “reputable advocates”.