By Victoria Mckeown-
An employment barrister who mimicked and mocked opposing counsel and their instructing solicitor during a tribunal hearing, has been fined £1,500.
She was ordered to pay the BSB’s costs in the sum of £5,820. The tribunal’s decision, the reasons for which are yet to be published in full, is open to appeal.
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Althea Brown, of Doughty Street Chambers, was found to have ‘undermined, insulted, humiliated and/or annoyed’ her opponent, referred to as NC, during a two-day hearing in 2019.
Such mocking during court or tribunal hearings are rare, and barristers are rarely ever fined for conduct that occurs during a tribunal or court hearing.
Credited for being an expert mediator between parties, there was disappointment that a barrister of Ms Brown’s stature and experience would be seen to fall short of expected ethics and standards.
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One legal observer who insisted on anonymity, told The Eye Of Media.Com: ‘Anthea Brown is a barrister of huge experience and expertise, with plenty of insight when it comes to mediating between feuding parties in civil cases. It is rather disappointing that she was found to have failed to be respectful of her fellow legal practitioners.
She really should have known better. As the saying goes, ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’. Brown was accused of imitating NC by ‘silently mouthing her words when the judge was not looking’ and ‘repeatedly made reference to her seniority over NC’, the Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service (BTAS) found.
A barrister for 27 years, she also mimicked NC’s instructing solicitor, referred to as VW, by ‘silently mouthing the words VW had said in an exaggerated fashion’, the tribunal said.
Broen was found to have repeated NC’s submissions in ‘a noticeably different and disrespectful tone of voice to her usual voice, accompanied by exaggerated body language’, and suggested that her opponent had a ‘fundamental intellectual difficulty’ in understanding her case.
The tribunal also found that Brown distracted NC and the judge during her opponent’s submissions by ‘repeatedly gesturing in an exaggerated and/or audible way and/or sighing loudly’ and ‘repeatedly spoke over NC and the judge’.
The fine serves to discredit the professionalism of Brown, who is expected to comport herself in a more dignified manner during legal proceedings, and in the course of her professional endeavours.
Brown has a specialist practice in the ‘core’ civil liberties fields of employment, equality law and professional discipline and regulation. As well as her practice as a barrister, Althea is also a busy mediator.
The veteran barrister regularly argues cases in employment tribunals, the County Court, High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Brown compared NC’s submissions to the words of Violet Elizabeth Bott – a recurring character in the Just William books, who said ‘I’m going to scream and scream until I’m sick’ – which the tribunal said unfairly suggested that NC was ‘behaving in a juvenile and/or petulant manner’.
Brown was found to have failed to observe her duty to the court and ‘behaved in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in her or the profession and/or abused her role as an advocate’.
Brown, who has a rich knowledge and expertise in the practical application of the law and litigation, was also found by the tribunal to have accused her opponent of making an untruthful statement to the employment tribunal without a reasonable basis.
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