By Eric King And Lucy Caulkett-
A barrister who drank half a bottle of whisky before getting behind the wheel of a car has been fined £2,500. The news is an embarrassment to Moss, expected to maintain high standards of conduct in a profession like his. It is the second conviction the barrister in question has for a drinking offence, yet his identity and picture appears to have been been deliberately undisclosed to protect his career.
Representatives from the record office at the Bar Council told The Eye Of Media.Com that they never divulge the age of offending solicitors or barristers, and don’t keep their photograph either. They said it is because of the Data Protection Act, but this is not accurate. There is suspicion this may be done to shield offending members of the legal profession from the full disgrace they deserve, therefore treating them differently in the process.
The decision which was published this month by the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS), prevented Moss, who is currently unregistered, from applying to renew his practising certificate until 1 February 2019.
Moss was called by Middle Temple in 1980, and has been described as an ‘experienced and mature person’ required by his profession to have a ‘high degree of personal insight’. The tribunal said he must have recognized he was over the limit and could and should have taken a taxi” to avoid a significant risk of harm. Moss full identity has been withheld in order not to jeopardize his career because he is still considered to be a competent barrister.
After his conviction, in May 2016, Moss was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and banned from driving for 40 months. Moss’s other drink-driving conviction was in 2009. The conviction is a disgrace for Moss who has brought the legal profession to disrepute. Barristers are expected to uphold high standards in order to maintain trust in their service and professionalism, drinking before going behind a set of wheels shows signs of utter disregard for the law.
Moss was returning from visiting a friend and was nearly three times over the legal drink-drive limit when he was caught by cops. He claimed he had fallen asleep at his friend’s house and had not realized what the time was when he woke up. However, the tribunal found that he must have known he was still over the limit.
PENALTY
The BTAs said a suspension would normally be sufficient as an appropriate penalty, but that since Moss was unregistered, it would opt for preventing him from renewing his practising certificate.
The ruling follows another similar case heard before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) last month in which a solicitor -Andrew John Peters- was convicted of two driving offences within the space of a week, and struck off the roll. Offences like drink driving should never be found among legal practitioners because it undermines their profession and the important role it plays in society. If solicitors and barristers cannot be trusted to keep the driving laws of the land, how can they be trusted to always deliver their work with integrity if they have limited value for the law?
Peters, previously based in Borehamwood-based Martin Smith & Co, was found to be a danger to road users on two occasions in May 2016 – once after being convicted of drink driving and again for driving an unsuitable car without insurance. The two incidences occurred in a one week period. The tribunal took into account the fact Peters failed to report his convictions to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, a factor they used in deciding the more serious sanction against him.