Majority of callers to LawCare women

LawCare, a mental health charity that runs a helpline offering support to lawyers, has revealed calls concerning bullying and harassment nearly doubled over the last year. The charity handled 68 calls relating to bullying and harassment in 2018, an 80% increase (38 calls) on the previous year.

Overall, the free, independent and confidential helpline received 932 calls from 624 callers in 2018, an increase of 5% on 2017.

According to the stats, the most common reason for calling was stress (26%), followed by depression (19%) and anxiety (11%). Forty-eight percent of callers were trainees/pupil or had been qualified for less than five years. The majority of callers were women (64%).

Other reasons to pick up the phone included concerns about disciplinary proceedings (8%), career development (9%), chronic illness, alcohol and drugs, and relationship issues.

Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare, said: “2018 was our busiest year to date on the helpline since we started over twenty years ago. Whilst we are pleased more lawyers are reaching out to us for support, we remain increasingly concerned about the long hours and heavy workload culture in the law which significantly affects wellbeing.” She added:

“We are particularly concerned about the number of callers citing bullying and harassment in the workplace, it is absolutely essential that legal practice organisations take steps to stamp this out and take the wellbeing and treatment of staff seriously.”

The findings come after a cross-profession taskforce claimed changes in culture, leadership and operations are necessary in order to create a more “mentally healthy” legal sector.

The group, which is made up of solicitors, barristers and industry experts (including LawCare staff), agreed it was imperative that City law firm bosses take the mental health of junior lawyers seriously and that it becomes the responsibility of management to monitor and improve staff wellbeing.

You can contact LawCare by calling 0800 279 6888 in the UK or 1800 991 801 in Ireland.

Purchase tickets for the Future of Legal Education and Training Conference 2019, taking place on 22 May at Kings Place, London, with a dedicated panel session on mental health and wellbeing.

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Continuing digital outage plays havoc with justice system

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has apologised after multiple IT outages caused chaos in the criminal courts and the wider justice system nationwide.

Databases, file sharing and secure email systems were among the systems that failed towards the end of last week and into today. The MoJ confirmed that 75,000 users of the Criminal Justice Secure eMail (CJSM) system, which is used by lawyers and other professionals, had been unable to send and receive emails.

Court proceedings were also in a snarl due to the digital disruption. The failure of centralised computer systems meant problems across the country, with observers reporting trials adjourned in Birmingham and “chaos” in Swansea.

Welcome to week-two of the digital case system at Swansea Crown Court being out of action. The chaos is continuing. Somebody at HMCTS needs to reboot the Tandy computer which seemingly powers the system.

— Jason Evans (@EvansTheCrime) January 21, 2019

Jonathan Black of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show:

“What we’ve seen in the courts for the last two working days and will for the foreseeable future are problems where laptops have had to be passed around the court using mobile data — not using the Wifi, which is also down.”

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) said that there had also been problems with the XHIBIT system for recording barristers’ attendance at court. The organisation’s chair, Chris Henley QC, told Legal Cheek that “prolonged IT failures do a disservice to the victims of crime and their families who may have already suffered the costs of delays from an already overstretched, chronically underfunded, broken criminal justice system”.

The outage even affected printers, with reports of probation officers scribbling hand-written letters to prisoners. The Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed that it had also been having trouble with its phone lines.

Probation Officer handwriting letters to prisoners as IT failure incudes loss of printers network. Shambles.

— napo cymru (@napocymru1) January 21, 2019

On Friday night, a Twitter account run by the MoJ’s Digital and Technology team apologised for the problems and said that “most systems are now improving”.

Whispers to all those in courts:

Computers may be working again….
Check. Carefully. We don’t want it falling over again. pic.twitter.com/3dFmftSXTs

— Mary Aspinall-Miles (@MAM12CP) January 22, 2019

But lawyers reported continuing problems on Monday which continued into today in some areas. The trade union representing probation officers in Greater Manchester tweeted this morning: “Day 8 of… yes you guessed it, no access to any IT”.

The MoJ has admitted that it will take up to two weeks to restore practitioners’ full CJSM inboxes, with older messages inaccessible in the meantime. A spokesperson reportedly told the Telegraph yesterday: “We apologise to those who have been affected by network issues that we have been experiencing today”. The department had not responded to Legal Cheek‘s request for an update by the time of writing.

The outage raises questions about the MoJ’s billion-pound splurge on high-tech court modernisation, with critics accusing the department of failing to get the basics right.

Black said that “they’ve spent over a billion pounds on IT infrastructure and required all legal professionals to invest heavily in legal hardware and software, but haven’t invested in sufficient back-up”.

Lawyers also wondered about the lack of media coverage before today. Anonymous advocate The Secret Barrister said “imagine the headlines if it were the NHS. But it’s only justice, so no one cares”. And Gareth Underhill of 4 Breams Buildings pointed out that there was more media coverage when KFC ran out of chicken last year.

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Big hitters from Skadden and Quinn Emanuel, and a rising star from Kirkland & Ellis, tell their stories

Skadden and Quinn Emanuel partners Richard Youle and Richard East joined Kirkland & Ellis rising star Hannah McCarthy last week at Legal Cheek’s latest junior lawyer workshop, sponsored by global legal education provider BARBRI. They told the audience of 50 rookies what they had learned en route to their coveted roles at US firms in London. Some of it was unexpected…

Richard Youle, co-head of Skadden’s private equity group

A 2:2 can be a springboard

When Skadden co-head of private equity Richard Youle graduated with a 2:2 from Newcastle University in 1995, things weren’t looking great for him. But determined to pursue a career in law he moved back to his native Hull and managed to secure a training contract with local firm Stamp Jackson & Proctor.

Less than ten years later he found himself beating a host of first class Oxbridge graduates to become one of the youngest ever partners at Linklaters. The comprehensive-educated maverick went on to lead the magic circle firm’s private equity practice before moving onto White & Case and then take his current role at Skadden.

How the hell did Youle pull off what must be one of the most incredible career comebacks in the history of the legal profession? In his talk he alluded to three driving forces: 1) a determination to make up lost ground, 2) great timing, and 3) great mentors.

Having made it from Hull to Eversheds’ Leeds office when the city was booming in the late 90s, Youle secured a move to London under his then boss, Graham White, as part of a team hire by SJ Berwin (now King & Wood Mallesons). Hungry and exposed to fantastic work in the burgeoning sector of private equity, Youle then made it into the magic circle as part of another team move.

“I’d have had no chance of getting into Linklaters any other way,” he recalled.

But once into Silk Street, where he was surrounded by “a different calibre of person”, the darts-loving Yorkshireman thrived — and the rest is history.

Richard East, co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel’s London office

The importance of risk taking

Quinn Emanuel’s Richard East is another lawyer who had a difficult start to his career, leaving school aged 16 without any A-levels. A series of low paid jobs followed, before East decided to have another crack at education. Having done surprisingly well in a university access course, he ended up with a place at LSE, scored the top first in his year and bagged a training contract at Baker McKenzie.

Having overcome adversity once, East felt able to embark on a series of career defining moves that saw him jump from Bakers to a succession of US firms that were relatively newly-established in London, including Quinn Emanuel, whose London office he founded and still leads after ten years.

“I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t taken calculated risks at critical points in my career,” he reflected.

During his first move, to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft’s London office, East came under the tutelage of legendary City dealmakers Andrew Wilkinson and James Roome, who at that time led the firm’s globally famous restructuring team. Partnership at Kirkland & Ellis followed, where the temptation must have been to sit back and let the cases role in, before the new challenge of Quinn came calling.

Alongside risk-taking, East identified an ability to withstand and adapt to criticism and failure as a key trait to successful lawyers. “You will make mistakes and as you get more senior, you will receive less praise and affirmation and much more criticism — so you need to have the inner confidence to keep going,” he told the audience. “Ultimately the only validation you will receive is that someone is prepared to hire and pay you.”

Hannah McCarthy, associate at Kirkland & Ellis

Spending time doing seemingly random things can open doors later

Having trained at magic circle firm Freshfields, Hannah McCarthy joined the financial regulation team at Kirkland & Ellis last year. This enviable start to her career may not have been possible, reckons McCarthy, if she hadn’t spent time doing a host of seemingly unconnected yet enjoyable things before she set her sights on corporate law.

First the Dublin native toyed with the idea of becoming a barrister in Ireland, then she was offered a place on the Washington Ireland Programme so went to the US and worked in a communications firm for the summer. During an extended US odyssey, which saw McCarthy briefly return home to sit the Irish bar entrance exams, she ended up working for the Democratic Party on their congressional campaigns team and interning for Senator Chuck Schumer.

While in the States, the Trinity College Dublin graduate sat the New York Bar Exam with BARBRI (“I just thought, ‘Why not?’”) and at a drinks reception held by the Irish American Association of Attorneys for students sitting the exam she secured a paralegal job with a Manhattan law firm. It was during this time that she put in a successful application to Freshfields in London. With 18 months to kill before her training started, McCarthy headed back to Ireland and used her legal experience to land a position in Twitter’s European legal team before squeezing in a masters at Cambridge.

“There was never a clear plan as such,” said McCarthy, whose New York qualification and experience working in the US is now coming in handy at Kirkland.

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Enforceable salary requirements ditched by SRA in 2014

A group representing young legal aid lawyers has called on the regulator to rethink its decision to abolish the requirement for a minimum salary for trainees.

The Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) has warned that low trainee pay is having a “direct impact” on social mobility within the profession and is one of the “biggest challenges” facing junior lawyers wishing to pursue a career in legal aid.

The YLAL’s warning comes despite research suggesting the number of rookies earning less than the Law Society’s minimum salary recommendation was at its lowest in three years.

The Law Society recommends (i.e. firms can choose to ignore it) trainees be paid £21,561 in London and £19,122 elsewhere. The minimum pay levels had previously been enforceable by law, however, amid much disapproval, this was scrapped by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in 2014.

While recognising the efforts of some firms to ensure trainees are properly remunerated, the YLAL has warned that further progress across the sector as a whole is still required. In a recently published blog post it said:

“While YLAL acknowledges the difficulties faced by high street firms and other legal aid providers in the current climate, we believe that the future of access to justice depends on the continued recruitment of new generations of legal aid lawyers. We are concerned that even eight years after our first report into social mobility, low salaries remain a major challenge faced by trainees and paralegals.”

Continuing, the group said it “strongly urges” the SRA to review its decision to abolish the requirement for a minimum wage for trainees and will continue to lobby for change.

A survey published earlier this month by legal recruiter Douglas Scott found that around a quarter of trainees were being paid below the recommended levels set by the Law Society. This compared to 38% in 2018, 35% in 2017 and 31% in 2016.

Solicitors profession aside, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) confirmed last month pupillage awards will increase from September 2019. Under the new rules, the minimum will be set in line with salaries recommended by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) — £18,436 per annum for pupillages in London and £15,728 per annum everywhere else.

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Increasing workloads number one stress source, research shows

New research has suggested that almost three-quarters of lawyers are feeling the strain at work.

In what won’t come as a surprise to those of you already plugging away in law, researchers found that 70% of UK legal workers claimed their job “makes them feel stressed” — just outpacing the national average of 68%.

There are, however, a host of industries that appear to make life in law look like a walk in the park.

Those working in social care topped the stress-o-meter with 86.4%, followed by recruiters (81.8%) and sales staff (79.2%), according to research compiled by CV-Library, an online job website. The study polled over 1,100 UK employees, including 120 legal professionals.

Elsewhere, 76.7% of respondents working in accountancy said they felt stressed, compared to 69.2% of those in design and 68.6% in manufacturing.

Commenting on the findings, Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library, said: “While it’s concerning to learn that such a large percentage of the population are suffering from workplace stress, in many of these key industries it comes as little surprise. These are all sectors that involve a lot of pressure, as well as tight deadlines and aggressive targets. These factors often add to the stress of the job; especially as we start a new year.”

Looking at the findings more generally, almost half of the respondents (47%) said work-related stress impacted on their “private life”, while a further 72% revealed feeling low even after LEAVING work.

As for the top causes of stress, over half (55%) cited increasing workloads. This was quickly followed by managers (40%), tight deadlines (34%), making a mistake (31%) and customers/clients (26%).

The findings come just 24 hours after LawCare, a mental health charity that runs a helpline offering support to lawyers, revealed it received 932 calls from 624 callers in 2018, an increase of 5% on 2017. The most common reason for calling was stress (26%).

You can contact LawCare by calling 0800 279 6888 in the UK or 1800 991 801 in Ireland.

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The panel, comprised of lawyers and business services professionals, had plenty to say on topics ranging from Brexit, the economic cycle and the rise of disruptive technologies

How do law firms adapt to change? This was the central question posed at a recent Legal Cheek event with Travers Smith. The panel, which comprised of lawyers and business services professionals from across the firm, had plenty to say on topics ranging from Brexit, the economic cycle and the rise of disruptive technologies to the huge importance of diversity and inclusion.

“The two years following the 2016 referendum have been record-breaking years for the firm,” said finance partner Danny Peel, one of five panellists at the event. “Given the circumstances, the order books are looking pretty good.” Indeed, the City law firm released a stellar set of financials last year with profit per equity partner (PEP) reaching £1.2 million (an uplift of 24.3% on the previous year) and turnover sitting at £150 million.

It’s a somewhat different position to that of ten years ago. Post-financial crisis, Travers Smith looked to move away from a perhaps over-reliance on its corporate practice and sought to grow in practice areas less sensitive to the peaks and troughs of the economy. “We’ve looked to be better hedged,” Peel told the audience of 100 students.

One such area is dispute resolution: the firm’s disputes department has doubled in size in recent years. “We’ve had two of our busiest years,” said commercial litigator Heather Gagen, who was also on the panel and discussed her involvement in high-value, complex disputes often with an international dimension. Gagen explained that by having lots of “strings” to its bow, Travers Smith is able to balance its market-leading private equity-led transactional practice with its disputes practice, and respond effectively to market change.

One of the driving forces behind the uptick in work is, of course, Brexit. “There has been a hub of activity as businesses look to complete their transactions before we get too close to Brexit day,” Peel explained. But is this likely to continue post-Brexit? On this, Peel said:

“We’ve already had two and a half years of uncertainty and can expect even more in years to come but it will be difficult for people to sit on their hands and wait things out… I suspect there will be an element of business as usual.”

In the event that there is ‘no deal’, investment funds lawyer Leigh Stockey explained some of the short and long-term consequences for the legal world:

“The Law Society has forecast that a ‘no deal’ Brexit would result in 12,000 job losses from the legal sector over the next ten years. In the short-term, there’s likely to be a ‘Brexit bump’, or uptick in work as clients call to ask ‘what happens now?’ Thereafter, if we crash out of the EU on 29 March with no deal, there will definitely be dampening on the number of deals done.”

On a lighter note, chief technology officer Oliver Bethell was asked to compare the notion of Brexit to the ‘Millennium bug’ — a period in the late 1990s when experts warned that many computer systems would not cope when the date hit 01/01/2000 — sending waves of panic across the globe.

That, of course, didn’t materialise. Planes did not fall from the sky, power stations did not melt down and the world did not end as had been anticipated. “I hope Brexit proves to be the same let down as the Millennium bug,” quipped Bethell. “I fear it will have a great effect but live in hope that we will look back on it as fondly as we do the Millennium bug.”

Travers Smith operates an almost unique model in that it continues to attract high profile work from just two offices, London and Paris. As the countdown to Brexit looms, will the firm have to rethink its international strategy? “We only practise English law and will remain this way,” said Peel. “Will our business model survive? That depends on what happens to London as a financial centre.”

“If, in 15-20 years’ time, London is irrelevant as a financial centre globally, English law has been surpassed by French, German or Irish law as the leading European jurisdiction and New York law gains more of a share, then suddenly there will be less work for English transactional lawyers. But we don’t think either of those will happen. English law has been the number one law globally for centuries — it’s the governing law of choice for most contracting parties; it’s stable and has the mixture of statute and common law.”

When cross-border work crops up, it’s down to the firm to maintain close working relationships with its ‘good friend’ law firms in other jurisdictions. Secondments is one way the firm retains close ties with its international network of lawyers. “I don’t think the structure of our firm changes our ability to do global work,” said Gagen, who is currently acting for a Japanese client and has worked closely with an African law firm on a previous case.

Technology is another driver of change. Lots of attention has been afforded to novel legal tech in recent years but it’s time to temper the marketing hype, said Bethell, who described the notion as “innovation by press “where law firms divvy out a press release once they purchase a tech tool.

Peel has spent his entire professional career at Travers Smith and has experienced advances in the firm’s tech first-hand. “When I was on a vacation scheme in 2001, students didn’t have computers on their desks and we handwrote pieces of work. When I joined as a trainee in 2003, the only people who had access to their emails on a portable device were partners,” he revealed.

Now, Travers Smith is using tech that Peel describes as “game-changing”. Thanks to new document building software the firm has developed with an external provider, a 300-page loan agreement precedent can be reduced to a “ten-page tick sheet” — potentially saving hours of finance lawyers’ time. Disputes resolution partner Gagen has also embraced artificial intelligence (AI) in her practice. Court rules regarding electronic disclosure, allow Gagen’s team to use time-saving algorithmic review platforms to complete document-heavy disclosure exercises.

“Technology has [also] facilitated a culture of agile working,” said diversity director Chris Edwards. “It’s no longer where you are, but what you do.” Travers Smith introduced a firmwide agile working initiative two years ago and some of its lawyers work remotely full-time. Senior associate Stockey was one of the firm’s first lawyers to do so. She had worked in the London office for four years before deciding she wanted to move back home to Glasgow. The response when she tried to resign? “Don’t be so ridiculous! This is 2018. We can make it work”. She told the audience: “It makes no difference whether I’m sat in an office down the hall or in an office 400 miles away — the client doesn’t notice any difference.”

Another theme broached during the event was the firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Previously known as a traditional firm, Travers Smith has done a lot of work on improving its image and being known as a firm that is pro-diversity and actively leading change. On hand to share some of the strategies the firm has in place was Edwards, the firm’s first diversity director.

“As a firm we are deeply committed to making a fundamental change to the culture — to be more inclusive and make sure we’re attracting and recruiting diverse talent. Some of the initiatives we’ve adopted include looking at inclusive language, inclusive leadership, interesting mentoring schemes and lots of outreach work — there are several different projects going on.”

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‘There’s clearly a glitch in the system!’

In the latest instalment of our Career Conundrums series, one rookie lawyer wants to know why some City law firms pay trainees different salaries depending on what time of year they start.

“I am a trainee solicitor at large City law firm which splits its intake into two — March and September starters. I discovered recently that my colleagues who started in September (I didn’t, I was a March starter) actually earn more over the duration of their training contracts. This is because they are paid a first year salary for 12 months and a higher second year salary for 12 months, as it should be. But March starters get paid their first year salary for 14 months, and their higher second year salary for just 10 months. This, as I understand it, is something to do with the end of City law firms’ financial years falling in May. While I appreciate we are only talking about a few hundred pounds over the course of the two years, I still find it unfair that trainees can be left short-changed on account of when they started at the firm. Is this happening to others out there? There’s clearly a glitch in the system!”

If you have a career conundrum, email us at careers@legalcheek.com.

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Four Shearman & Sterling partners share their insights

With their soaring salaries and rapid expansion across London, business is booming for US MoneyLaw firms. What is the secret to their success in winning UK market share? This was the central question posed last week’s Legal Cheek commercial awareness event with the London office of elite US firm Shearman & Sterling.

First to offer insight was antitrust partner James Webber, who noted the importance of Wall Street roots. “New York is the largest and most profitable legal services market in the world, and if you generate profit successfully you can use this to then expand into other areas of profitability,” Webber explained to an audience of 60 students. Moving business across the pond is an obvious choice given London’s similarly profitable legal market. And with Shearman & Sterling having been in the UK capital since 1972 there are solid foundations on which to build.

“Deep relationships” with US financial institutes and corporate clients mean that when these organisations look to London for a “broader suite for legal services”, Shearman & Sterling is well-positioned. An example is in litigation. Webber observed that investment banks, notoriously susceptible to lawsuits, often bulk buy annual litigation packages from law firms. “This then provides an easy way of cross selling English litigation into that relationship,” he says.

For European finance partner Korey Fevzi, the competitive advantage that US firms enjoy internationally stems from the “entrepreneurial spirit” engrained in their DNA. In practice this means not waiting around for the phone to ring — lawyers at US firms must be driven to “get out there and build business”.

As Webber explained, at US firms greater freedom tends to be afforded to partners to “pursue opportunities” and “group together organically”. They are not limited by the rigid management structure more typical of some UK firms, where partners are assigned a client cohort and performance is measured against a set of more tick-box objectives.

Such freedom, Webber continued, matters a lot in your professional life. “In my experience, a few of the people that left large magic circle firms to join US firms find that’s one of the most important factors in the move – more important than money actually,” Webber added.

A feature of this looser way of working is a lower ratio between partners and associates than UK firms. With fewer junior lawyers relative to partners, whose income derives from the stake they own in the firm, costs are lower. This is one of the reasons that US firms are not as under as much pressure as their British counterparts to incorporate efficiency-saving legal technology into their practices. Most, like Shearman & Sterling, are taking an interested yet cautious approach as they wait to see what works. As Webber put it, lawtech can result in “significant sunk costs” if the artificial intelligence software turns out not to work brilliantly.

The downside of smaller teams of associates is a culture of longer hours (the upside is of course fantastic pay!). What was abundantly clear throughout the evening was the high expectation that Shearman & Sterling has of its future trainees. Applicants must appreciate, as emphasised by capital markets partner Marwa Elborai, that being transactional lawyer means servicing the client comes first. Being handed something on Friday that a client needs by Monday morning obviously requires this mindset.

Shearman & Sterling rookies must also be business-savvy. Capital markets partner Jacques McChesney offered a key piece of advice: learn the basics of financial accounting. “If your goal in life is to live and work in Paris, you’re going to learn French. If you’re goal in life is to work in one of the financial capitals in the world, you’re going to have to speak the language of finance – and the language of finance is accounting,” he said.

Having a strong grasp on what it means to be a lawyer at your chosen firm is fundamental to any successful application. As Webber stressed: “A law firm isn’t really anything other than the cultural glue that holds all the individuals in it together. It has no fixed assets; it doesn’t have any machinery; it doesn’t have any intellectual property. It’s just a group of people offering professional services — and the success or failure of that depends, in large part, on the social cohesiveness of that group of people.”

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Raise £180,000 for charity in the process

A partner at City law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, along with his two sons, has completed an epic 3,000-mile unsupported row across the Atlantic Ocean, smashing the world record in the process.

Joined by Hugo, 22, and Joe, 18, private client specialist James Trafford arrived in Antigua on Tuesday having rowed from La Gomera in the Canary Islands. The Transatlantic Traffords, as they’re known, completed the challenge in 41 days — eight days quicker than the previous record.

According to Trafford’s firm profile, he advises individuals, families and organisations with complex trust and tax issues. The 59-year-old joined the firm in 2014 through the merger between Charles Russell and Speechly Bircham.

Commenting on the family’s epic voyage, Trafford said: “It’s just amazing to be finished. When we knew that we had just 1,000 miles left to row and that the world record was in sight, that was a really special moment, and we had a bit of a celebration.”

Collectively, the team raised a staggering £180,000 for St Christopher’s Hospice, which offers care and support to families across South East London.

So how did Trafford find being confined to a rowing boat with his two sons for 41-days straight? He continued:

“We got on, genuinely, really well together on the row. There were so many highs and lows, but when we were told that good weather was coming and then the forecast turned-out to be wrong and we were heading back into bad weather, psychologically, that was really hard. We’re feeling a bit wobbly being back on land, but it’s really great to see everyone, especially our family, and we’re proud of the money we’ve managed to raise for the hospice.”

Commenting on the six-figure sum raised by the Traffords, joint chief executive at St Christopher’s, Sean O’Leary, added: “We cannot thank James, Hugo and Joe enough for their enormous effort, which has raised such a tremendous amount of money for the hospice. St Christopher’s helps people live their lives to the full, even at the end of life, and the Trafford family contribution will help mean we can share our experience further through our education programmes.”

The Traffords ocean exploits were part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2018. You can add to the money raised here.

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Irwin Mitchell lawyer filmed the incident from an adjacent office

A partner at Hogan Lovells who was suspended after he was caught watching porn at his office desk has now left the firm.

In November, it emerged that the unnamed partner was spotted looking at naughty videos on his work computer by a lawyer from Irwin Mitchell working in the adjacent office building. Images courtesy of Google (above and below) show that the two firm’s glass-covered London offices are only separated by a narrow alleyway.

As reported at the time, the lawyer from Irwin Mitchell (who presumably couldn’t believe what he or she was witnessing) filmed the incident on their mobile phone. Unfortunately for the partner, Hogan Lovells’ HR staff got wind of the incident and promptly suspended him “pending a full internal investigation.”

Several months on, and investigation now complete, RollOnFriday reports that the partner has now left the firm. A spokesperson for Hogan Lovells said:

“After our investigation we agreed that the partner would not return after their suspension period and they are no longer with the firm. This incident is not a reflection of who we are and the culture and inclusive values we stand for.”

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Two PwC trainee solicitors reveal how to maximise your experiences on your application forms and give an insider’s view on a Big Four training contract — ahead of the firm’s application deadline next week

PwC has offices in a staggering 158 different countries: that’s about 80% of the globe. No wonder then that the competencies required for a PwC lawyer include a strong international business acumen and adaptability. Do not be discouraged, however, as there are many ways for candidates to impress ahead of the firm’s vacation scheme deadline on the 30th January.

PwC trainee solicitors, Belinda Sweeney and Timothy Neo, clearly have the right skills for PwC in spades: to start with they had both studied abroad. Belinda spent a year in Seville studying Spain’s legal system and had to quickly pick up the language. Timothy, who moved from Singapore to study law at King’s College London, found that he became “more adaptable” as he grew “more open to different views and perspectives.” Having had these experiences gave Belinda and Timothy a competitive edge that was attractive to global player PwC.

“In order to tailor a solution to a client’s problem, you need to understand their commercial, cultural and social perspective,” Timothy believes. In the workplace, Belinda adds, this can be as simple as being aware of the varying time zones and working days of their clients.

Having international work experience can also work in your favour, says Timothy. Completing legal internships in India and Singapore enabled Timothy to leverage his exposure to international work. “Part of being a good lawyer is knowing how one set of skills you learn in one environment can then be applied in another,” he says.

But work experience doesn’t need to be international or even legal to be relevant. Although Belinda had experience with in-house legal teams, it was her non-legal experience, as a ballet teacher, that PwC interviewers quizzed her most about. As part of her application, Belinda identified leadership skills that she had gained from her part-time stint as a dance teacher — even if she didn’t realise it at the time. The trainee advises applicants to really look at PwC’s competencies, expected of all their lawyers, and evaluate their own broad skills and experience in relation to each competency.

After striking application gold, Belinda and Timothy each completed a three-week summer vacation scheme. There wasn’t a formal training contract application process, nor a partner interview neatly arranged for the end of their placement, so the pressure was high for the would-be trainees. After a series of assessments throughout the vac scheme, designed to test their lawyer skills and their compatibility with the firm, the duo were offered training contracts at PwC in London.

Compared with the sheer scale of PwC’s global operations, the firm has a relatively small but still substantial legal trainee intake — offering 25 training contracts each year. Yet, according to Belinda, this small cohort ensures all trainees build a good support network with each other — the strength of which is reflected in PwC’s A* rating for peer support in this year’s Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. The firm also emphasises personal development — trainees receive plenty of one-to-one support from their supervisors, and each trainee is further assigned a career coach who focuses on their personal development:

“You not only receive feedback on every project you have, but every three months you have a catch up with your career coach to help set your own resolutions to meet — allowing you to improve over time,” says Belinda.

A starting point for any successful candidate is to understand the culture of their chosen firm. In the case of PwC, this means fully grasping what it means to be a multi-disciplinary practice. It is helpful for applicants to think of PwC as a standalone law firm within a larger organisation that provides a whole range of services, Timothy explains, and law is just one of the many specialisms offered by the ‘Big Four’ professional services giant. Whereas a typical law firm would approach a client’s problem by trying to find a legal solution, PwC is able to offer integrated solutions — with lawyers being only a part of the larger picture.

Timothy recalls witnessing this collaborative environment in action shortly after starting his seat in PwC’s Data Protection team. During the early stages of a client workshop on data protection, the team realised the scope of the client’s problem required more than just a legal solution, so the team quickly arranged a meeting with forensic and data discovery experts — much to the client’s delight.

Where applicants often go wrong is not knowing how PwC’s legal arm fits into its wider business model. “A common mistake is thinking we are in-house lawyers — we are a client facing service and being an multi-disciplinary practice means we offer so much more value to our clients,” Belinda stresses.

This cross-discipline culture is made all the easier by, what Timothy describes as a, “flat hierarchy”. This is especially seen in the firm’s hot desking system, which means that where lawyers work in the office changes each day. As a result, trainees can often find themselves sitting with senior associates and partners from different practice areas. As Timothy neatly puts it: “Even in firms where you have an open-door policy, it’s not the same as sharing a table with a partner”.

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Fortunately, I was never asked ‘sell me this pen’

Training contract interviews usually contain all the obvious questions. Why this firm? What are the challenges facing the legal profession? Tell me about a recent news story? You can find a plethora of material on how to answer them online. The most difficult questions are the ones that take you by surprise. That’s why competency questions and Brexit don’t feature on this list.

By way of disclaimer, of course there is no single right answer to interview questions. These are all real questions that I have been asked by law firms and these are my own takes on them. Remember, it is the flair and the way in which you articulate your ideas that can sell your answer, even if it is poor. Be prepared, confident, and ready to think on your feet.

10. What other firms have you applied to?

This adversarial question is to see if there is any consistency in the firms you have applied to. Don’t say ‘the rest of the magic circle’ or a firm entirely different to the one you are interviewing at. Don’t throw shade at the interviewer — I’ve heard horror stories of people saying ‘it’s none of your business’ and it hasn’t gone down well.

I think it’s arguable to say you’ve applied to a variety of different firms (for vac schemes) as you want to be able to compare them to find your best fit. But I think by the training contract stage you very much need to show that you know what you want and can say ‘X, Y and Z firms because they all have [insert key common factors you’re attracted to].

9. A close friend and fellow trainee tells you that the late nights they have been working are only so they can charge their dinners to the client. What do you do?

Unfortunately, a good answer to this question involves throwing your mate under the bus and telling your supervisor or the compliance officer within the firm. I would advise all interviewees to read up on the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Code of Conduct before a training contract interview. Trainees and solicitors have a duty to act with integrity and in the best interests of their clients. This type of behaviour breaches several provisions in the code of conduct.

8. What do you know about our firm?

I had spent 10 billion hours reading everything I could get my hands on related to the firm. I didn’t know where to start. The trouble with this question was narrowing it down into a cogent answer. Did they want me to talk about a recent deal? Strategy? Awards the firm had won? What year it was founded? What the managing partner’s favourite hobby was?

The key to this question is that you are not being asked WHY you applied to the firm. You should have a pre-planned, structured answer to this. I decided to pick two interesting things the firm had recently done that I could relate to myself. It doesn’t hurt to sound keen here.

7. How would you persuade a potential client to choose this firm over another, such as X LLP?

You won’t be responsible for bringing in new clients until you’re at partner level, but this question is probing your knowledge of the firm and what differentiates it from competitors. Don’t talk down the other firm — you want to sell your own services.

If you can recite Legal 500 and Chambers rankings that’s great but in most cases a client won’t care — they want the job done efficiently for the least cost possible. I focused on alternative fee arrangements and said I would highlight the firm’s experience in dealing with other similar matters. I also suggest emphasising some key personalities within the firm and explaining that they are the best at what they do.

6. If you could bring into force any law, what would that law be and why?

Finally, a question about the law! Actually, one you would expect at a pupillage interview rather than at a commercial firm. A clever candidate might pick a law that would help the firm or its clients, or something related to a current news story. But I think choosing something a bit left field could also work. It could demonstrate your personality and make you stand out. If you pick something you are passionate about, you can actually steer the conversation into an area you are very knowledgeable about, and impress the interviewer. I chose a law relating to victim’s rights.

5. A professor comes in for advice and tells you he has found the cure to a major disease and wants to protect his intellectual property. How would you advise him?

Having been asked this before beginning the Legal Practice Course (LPC), I didn’t deal with this question particularly well. In fact I remember having to be given several ‘prompts’ (this means you are not impressing).

The trouble with this question was setting its parameters. I had to ask the interviewers questions to gain more facts. This revealed that the professor made his finding whilst in the employment of a large pharmaceutical company (which has IP implications). This fictional character wanted to protect his IP and I suggested setting up his own company, which then led onto discussing how this would be financed. There were also moral implications (was the disease cancer? Could the professor monopolise the cure?) This was a hard question because it required recalling the law, business acumen and thinking on my feet.

4. How many credit cards do you think there are in the UK?

This was probably my favourite question I was asked. This one is all about seeing how you problem solve and think through an issue. No one is expected to know the answer, but you are expected to come up with an educated guess. I said I would begin by looking at the UK population, then break it up into the type of people likely to own a credit card (not young people). Then I realised that businesses can have credit cards too, and I actually know some people with 3 credit cards. I kept adjusting my number, speaking out loud as I worked through the problem. My overall figure was about 90 million, which is far too high. But I don’t think success in these types of questions is dependent on getting the right final answer. It’s about showing how you think.

3. Can you give me a definition of medicine?

Now we are getting into the solid questions. Of course, at a law interview I was wholly unprepared to discuss medicine. This is easy with Google in front of you, but on the spot it’s hard. I was able to muddle together a sentence about something you take to prevent illness and disease. But I had gone too narrow. ‘Is meditation medicine?’ I was asked. ‘Can religion be medicine?’ I had to decide yes or no, and adapt my definition accordingly. The key here is to pause and think your answer through. I finished with a suitable wider working definition (albeit far from polished).

2. What would you do if we asked you to close an orphanage?

I thought this was a particularly nasty one. Do you a) outright refuse and look insubordinate or b) say you would do it and look morally callous? This question really probes you as a person. How would you react if you were told to work on something you didn’t agree with?

The reality is that in practice this may be unavoidable. You can’t be naïve — if you’re applying to a large commercial firm then you will be representing corporate clients in matters you might occasionally feel uneasy about.

A variation of this question might be ‘how do you feel about Google or Starbucks trying to pay as little tax as possible?’ I would advise to avoid saying that you would leave your moral compass at the door and give your honest answer to this question. Don’t try and say what you think the interviewer wants you to say.

1. The client calls you just before a deal is to be closed and wants to change something in the contract. Your supervising partner is on a long flight and won’t be available until tomorrow.

In at the top spot is this particularly difficult problem-solving question and I still do not know the ‘correct’ answer to it. I said that I would go to someone else in my department, or another partner, and ask for advice. But the interviewers said that NO-ONE else was available for advice.

So, if I couldn’t ask anyone, I could either make the change, or let the deal close and leave the client unhappy. A third option might be to negotiate an extended deadline?

Either way, I’m no risk taker, so I definitely wouldn’t make the change myself (if a trainee is even allowed to do such a thing). I don’t want to open the firm up to any litigation or ruin its reputation. In hindsight, I should have asked whether the change was minor (a comma being moved) or something substantial. I thought this question was very unrealistic — in real life you would be able to ask your colleagues for advice. I still don’t know what answer the interviewers were looking for.

Fraser Collingham is a University of Nottingham law graduate. He is currently studying the LPC at the University of Law and is due to commence a training contract at an international law firm later this year.

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Despite hype, two-thirds reported no change to their job role

As City law firms continue to fire off press release after press release in a bid to show they’re taking lawtech seriously, a new survey has shown that almost half of junior lawyers are not aware of what it actually is.

The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) found that 49.6% of respondents didn’t know what lawtech was prior to completing the survey, while almost two-thirds (63%) revealed that the so-called tech revolution “was not having an impact on their current job responsibilities.”

According to research, the lack of understanding surrounding the topic appears to stem from an absence of education and training. While 61% of respondents claimed to have received “little or no information/training on lawtech” during their time on the Legal Practice Course (LPC), just 2% said they were given all the information and training they needed from their law school.

However, despite almost two-thirds of the 224 junior lawyers surveyed claiming lawtech was having little impact on their day-to-day role, 71% believed their practise area could benefit from advances in technology. Forty-three percent of respondents predicted, rather ominously, a decrease in the number of solicitors qualifying in the next five to 10 years as a result of lawtech.

James Kitching, a member of JLD’s executive committee and who prepare the survey said:

“Lawtech has the potential to revolutionise the way we work. However, what the survey shows is that there is a general perception that we are not there yet. More importantly, there is still not enough engagement and understanding amongst junior lawyers as to exactly what lawtech is and how it can improve the way we work and it appears that part of the reason for this is a lack of training and education on the topic at the graduate level.”

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All eight March qualifiers to stay put

City outfit Stephenson Harwood has posted a perfect spring retention score of 100%. The 10-office outfit confirmed that all eight of its final-seat trainees had put pen to paper on permanent deals ahead of qualification in March.

Dishing out around 20 training contracts annually, Stephenson Harwood confirmed its soon-to-be associates will be joining its London-based corporate, marine and international trade, commercial litigation, real estate and finance practice teams.

Commenting on today’s retention result, the Stephenson Harwood’s trainee principal, Neil Noble, said:

“These figures reflect the firm’s continued commitment to attract and retain talent, and our ability to support trainees in achieving their full potential,” “We continue to place great importance on forming a strong pipeline of talent, as part of our ambitious growth strategy, and recognise the significance of providing a supportive environment for trainees to learn and develop.”

Awaiting the rookies upon qualification is a recently improved salary of £73,000, while Legal Cheek’s Most List shows trainees currently earn £41,000, rising to £45,000 in year two.

Retention rates to one side, the firm scored As for quality of work, peer support and office in our latest Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, as well as Bs for training, peer support partner approachability, work/life balance and social life.

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Ahead of Legal Cheek’s ‘How will Brexit disarray affect future lawyers?’ event at ULaw Moorgate on Thursday, ULaw associate professor Trevor Tayleur casts an expert eye over the impending upheaval

With the UK’s future relationship with the EU in a state of limbo, the burning question for lawyers and law students remains unanswered: will EU law still be relevant post-Brexit?

Well, according to University of Law (ULaw) associate professor Trevor Tayleur, the simple answer is “yes”. Citing the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018, Tayleur tells us that on exit day (Friday, 29 March) most EU laws will be automatically transferred into our domestic laws. This, he explains, enables the UK to maintain an element of legal certainty in the period immediately following Brexit. But problems will inevitably arise, Tayleur predicts, and lawyers proficient in EU law will need to be on hand to advise clients.

Despite the uncertainties surrounding Brexit and the political deadlock, Tayleur is fairly optimistic in his Brexit predictions. He says:

“The EU remains an important partner for this country. So, sooner or later there will be a trade agreement between the UK and EU, a deal which is likely to be negotiated some time in the future even if we initially crash out of the EU. When common sense prevails, the principles of a trade agreement would likely reflect many existing principles of EU law.”

But, even if no agreement comes to pass, lawyers will find plenty of work advising UK clients operating in the EU, says Tayleur. For example, a British business trading within EU member states would still need to abide by EU competition laws — or risk facing penalties. “Google and Microsoft show that even if you’re not an EU company, you’re not immune from fines from the European Commission — you do not operate in a legal vacuum,” Tayleur explains.

The real concern for law firms, however, is whether they can still provide legal services in EU member states following a ‘no deal Brexit’. The current ‘mutual market access’ framework allows UK lawyers to provide legal services and establish law firms across the EU with few restrictions. However, as Tayleur warns, failure to sign a withdrawal agreement could see UK lawyers lose the right to practise in the EU and law firms miss out on lucrative work before the European Court of Justice.

Again, Tayleur remains hopeful that all is not lost: “British lawyers will want to continue their business in the EU — it will be less easy, and they will have to be creative in their way of escaping restrictions, but it’s still possible.” Indeed, a number of leading British solicitors have registered in the Republic of Ireland, to ensure continued access to the EU. Although, Tayleur warns that “there’s lot of ‘red tape’ involved in this process”.

Prior to academia, Tayleur practised as a solicitor after qualifying in 1982. In search of a new challenge, he became involved in a charity facilitating negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, where he grew up. This involved working closely with the South African government and the African National Congress, the main anti-apartheid political party ahead of Nelson Mandela’s presidential election in 1994.

Joining ULaw (then the College of Law) in 1991, Tayleur explains how his brush with politics left him captivated with the UK’s legal relationship with the EU. “I found it fascinating that a parallel system, that had developed its own unique methodology, was being used alongside English law in the English legal system,” Tayleur recalls. Since then, the associate professor has been instrumental in developing EU law as new core subject at the law school.

But will law students be required to study EU law after Brexit? According to Tayleur, it largely depends on the deal. In the long term, EU law could become an optional, rather than a core module, says Tayleur, pointing to the fact it doesn’t feature on the syllabus for the new Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE).

In the meantime, Brexit shouldn’t deter aspiring solicitors from seeking out training contracts. While the legal market may suffer some loss of business under Brexit, it will also generate plenty of opportunities. “Brexit may result in an increased demand for legal advice because of the legal complexity, thus creating a greater demand for trainees — especially in City law firms,” Tayleur believes. To make yourself an attractive candidate, Tayleur advises students to brush up on your EU law. “It is still going to be very important — so if you’re an expert in EU law, you’re going to understand the post Brexit system,” he adds.

Trevor Tayleur will be speaking alongside lawyers from Ashurst, Hogan Lovells, Henderson Chambers and Shearman & Sterling at Thursday’s Brexit-themed commercial awareness event at ULaw Moorgate in London. You can apply to attend the event, which is free, now.

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Adam Kemeny avoided paying £650 worth of train fares from Shoreditch to Surrey

A junior lawyer has been struck off for dodging train fares on his morning commute.

Adam Kemeny, who was less than a year into his first job as a newly qualified (NQ) solicitor, was found to have avoided £650 worth of train fares over several months in 2017.

Kemeny was caught by ticket inspectors in October 2017 sneaking out a back gate at Redhill station (pictured top) in Surrey. It turned out that the hapless NQ had dodged fares 64 times in the previous 65 days, travelling from his home in Shoreditch to his firm’s Redhill branch without tapping out at the far end.

The UCL geography graduate had worked as a paralegal for several years after completing a law conversion course and the Legal Practice Course (LPC). Kemeny finally landed a training contract at Thomas Eggar (since merged with Irwin Mitchell) and qualified in 2016, moving to south-east regional outfit Morrisons Solicitors. But all that effort at legal career-building came to nothing: the rookie lawyer’s fare dodging came to light less than a year into the job, and Morrisons promptly sacked him for gross misconduct.

Kemeny told the disciplinary tribunal that his actions were down to “great financial hardship”, as he was unemployed for several months after his training contract ended. But a Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) prosecutor pointed out that Kemeny’s salary was £38,000: more than enough to cover the £17 cost of the daily trip.

Kemeny’s lawyer said that his client was “a very young solicitor indeed” whose misconduct did not relate to his professional practice, describing him as a “broken man”. He had repaid the train company, confessed to his bosses and reported himself to the regulator.

But the panel decided that Kemeny’s conduct “amounted to a failure to act with integrity and failure to behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in him and in the provision of legal services”.

The tribunal also found that the young lawyer had been dishonest, pointing out that “a solicitor had to display honesty whatever his level of experience”. It ordered that Kemeny be struck off and pay costs of £3,000.

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Tuckers partner Richard Egan sent threatening letter for representing Jack Shepherd

The Lord Chancellor, David Gauke, has condemned death threats made against the lawyer representing “speedboat killer” Jack Shepherd.

Referring to a threatening letter sent to solicitor Richard Egan (pictured top), whose client is fighting extradition on manslaughter charges, Gauke tweeted that “such behaviour is completely unacceptable”.

Very concerned about death threats made against Jack Shepherd’s lawyer. Such behaviour is completely unacceptable.

— David Gauke (@DavidGauke) January 29, 2019

Egan, a senior partner at Tuckers Solicitors, has shown BBC News a copy of the letter (pictured below), which says that “we (EDF) will petrol bomb your nice office” and is signed “Heil Hitler”.

The criminal defence lawyer represents Shepherd, who fled to Georgia last year while on trial for gross negligence manslaughter. The web designer had taken Elizabeth Brown, 24, on a drunken ride in a defective speedboat which capsized in the River Thames, leaving Brown dead while Shepherd swam to safety. He was convicted in July 2018 and sentenced to six years.

Tabloid criticism of Egan has focused on an ongoing appeal against conviction, which the Court of Appeal ruled could proceed despite Shepherd being on the run. The Daily Mail reported the Brown family’s “fury” at the fact that there will be legal aid funding to fight the appeal, saying that it amounts to a convicted killer being able to “milk taxpayers while on the run”.

But Tuckers said: “A legal aid certificate automatically extends to advice on appeal. The client’s appeal is based on what the defence believe were legal errors made during the trial… we would be negligent and in breach of our professional duties were we not to proceed because the client had absconded.”

And Egan told BBC News yesterday that “our system is based on the principle that all those accused by the state are entitled to legal representation. That is all I provide”.

Former chief justice Lord Thomas also condemned the death threat. The Ministry of Justice retweeted Gauke’s statement.

The condemnation stands in stark contrast to Gauke’s predecessor, Liz Truss. Lawyers and judges were shocked at the lack of reaction to the Daily Mail‘s 2016 attack on judges as “Enemies of the People”, saying that the Lord Chancellor has a duty to uphold the rule of law, which means defending judges against unfair attacks.

Supreme Court supremo Lady Hale brought up Truss’s inaction in a recent speech.

Gauke had promised not long after becoming Lord Chancellor that he would “speak out” if the media were to attack the rule of law again. If tweets count, he has just kept that promise.

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‘Horrendous environment’ did not excuse dishonesty, tribunal found

A whistleblowing trainee solicitor who was “deceived, pressured, bullied and manipulated” by a senior lawyer has been struck off the roll.

Emily Scott, who left Lincolnshire outfit De Vita Platt Solicitors in November 2014, was handed the sanction despite being the one to bring the misconduct at her firm to the regulator’s attention.

While expressing “considerable sympathy” for the young rookie, the tribunal found Scott had acted dishonestly in matters concerning client funds and that her misconduct was “deliberate, calculated and repeated”.

Two qualified lawyers who ran the firm — Jonathan De Vita and Christopher Platt — were also struck off for falsifying bills, misappropriating client funds and misleading the regulators.

Citing last year’s High Court ruling in the well-publicised Sovani James case, the tribunal said the fact Scott was “under pressure and working in a horrendous environment” could not excuse her dishonesty.

According to the judgment, the trainee’s dishonesty continued for several months and she waited for up two years before blowing the whistle — two months after she’d completed her training contract and had left the firm.

Scott admitted falsifying bills and failing to initially report the misconduct, but told the tribunal she feared jeopardising her training contact and had acted “under duress”.

In mitigation, Scott said she was now self-employed and had no intention of working in the legal profession again. Moreover, she told the tribunal she had been “under the instruction of Mr Platt” and had been on medication during the final year of her training contract.

Noting in mitigation that Scott had been “deceived, pressured, bullied and manipulated” by Platt, the tribunal ordered she be struck off the roll and pay costs of £2,077. The firm’s former partners were ordered to jointly pay in excess of £143,000.

You can contact LawCare by calling 0800 279 6888 in the UK or 1800 991 801 in Ireland.

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Grad recruiters reveal favourite firm name blunders

Despite being one of the most important documents they’ll ever draft, aspiring lawyers continue to drop that biggest of training contract application no-nos — incorrectly spelling the firm’s name.

Taking to LinkedIn, Shearman & Sterling‘s UK graduate recruitment manager, Paul Gascoyne, revealed a number of the different variations of the firm’s name he’d seen by way of training contact apps.

Providing a couple of near misses such as “Sherman & Sterling” (missing an ‘a’) and “Shearman & Stirling” (‘i’ instead of ‘e’), Gascoyne said his “personal favourite” was Shirley & Herman, a name which sounds more US sitcom than US law firm.

Commenting on Gascoyne’s now viral post, City law firm recruiter Jessica Booker provided a couple of clangers of her own, writing: “The amount of times I read ‘Alan & Ovary’ and Freshfields Brickhouse Deringer…”

Amusing blunders aside, the hunt for a training contract remains as tough as ever.

Data compiled as part of Legal Cheek’s 2019 Firms Most List showed that training contract places were up from 2,024 to 2,035 across the major 70 UK-based corporate firm — a rise of just 0.5%. This is significantly down from the pre-crash high of 6,303 over a decade ago.

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Property law specialist Fiona Onasanya handed three-month custodial sentence

A junior lawyer turned Labour MP has today been jailed for three months after being found guilty lying to police in a bid to avoid a speeding charge.

Fiona Onasanya, a commercial property law specialist, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice at the Old Bailey in December following a retrial.

At the time, the court heard how the MP for Peterborough plotted with her brother to deceive police by claiming a former tenant, Alek Antipow, was driving her vehicle when it was clocked by a speed camera doing 41mph in a 30mph zone in Thorney, near Peterborough, on 24 July 2017. Subsequent inquiries by police revealed Antipow was at home with his parents in Russia at the time.

Returning to the Old Bailey today, the 35-year-old ex-Eversheds (now Eversheds Sutherland) lawyer was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. Her brother, Festus Onasanya, was jailed for ten months for his involvement.

Onasanya was elected as Peterborough MP in 2017 with a majority of 607 following a shock win over Conservative MP Stewart Jackson.

Today’s sentencing will likely prompt a formal enquiry by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). An SRA spokesperson told Legal Cheek:

“Now that the case has concluded, we will seek all relevant information before deciding on next steps.”

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