By Lucy Caulkett-
A senior lawyer’s career is in limbo after he was accused of groping a junior lawyer, over a year after it happened.
And although 41 year old senior boss, Ryan Beckwith, denies the charges , some insiders believe the power of her testimony is so detailed and convincing that it could damage Beckwith’s career in the profession. Strong feminist groups have been springing up all over the country, determined to even out the imbalance between convictions for rape and sexual assaults, and the higher number of acquittals.
The Solicitors Tribunal panel will be hearing 10 days of evidence in relation to the allegation, which may include requests of any text messages between the pair since then as part of information gathering. Its panel will have to take many things into account in assessing the case.
PRESENTATION
”In cases like this, the panel will necessarily assess the presentation of both parties and request any evidential communication between both parties in reference to the day in question, an insider affiliated with the Solicitors Tribunal anonymously told The Eye Of Media.Com. The panel can use logical and deductive means to catch out a liar, even without direct evidence.
The woman’s account won’t be dismissed out of hand just because there is no evidence, it will be closely looked at. His career could be finished if her story is believed from the accounts heard at the tribunal”.
This case is not a criminal one, but has strong implications for Beckwith if he is found guilty. He maintains that the drunken encounter was a mutual mistake, but she insists it was not. It doesn’t help that she kept quiet for a year before complaining, but victims of assault sometimes find the ordeal difficult to discuss.
” Even if he is acquitted, law firms will respond to any applications from him according to their intuitive belief of his guilt or innocence”.. an inside source said.
TEARS
The junior lawyer broke down in tears during a tribunal hearing as she described how she was too embarrassed to go to the police after she woke up to find her married boss groping her in bed. next thing Person A recalls is her flatmate Witness B, waking her sometime after 7am as they were due to spend the day at Henley Regatta.”
UNWANTED KISS
The tribunal hearing was also told that the woman claims to have received an unwanted kiss from Mr Beckwith following event held at the Michelin star Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire several weeks earlier.
Ms Karmy-Jones said the incident occurred as members of the team were at a bar following a dinner to celebrate the successful completion of a contract.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons accused 41 year old boss, Ryan Beckwith- a senior partner at the Magic Circle law firm where she worked- of taking advantage of her when she got “exceptionally drunk” at an office gathering.
Describing her ordeal to a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal from a screen, the woman said Mr Beckwith had invited himself to her flat after the pair shared a cab there. The woman said she later woke up in her own bed with Mr Beckwith on top of her, but admitted she was so drunk she could not be sure what had taken place.
More than three years on the woman said she still has weekly therapy sessions and took medication for anxiety.
STRUGGLE
“I do still struggle with the incident,” she said. “I spoke to a friend’s father who is a retired senior police officer. As a result I decided to pause because at the time it felt too difficult.
“I could hardly admit it to myself, let alone the thought of being interviewed, the thought of police having to interview you. Just the concept of everybody knowing what had happened didn’t feel like an option at that time.”
She reported the allegations to the firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in May 2017, almost a year after the incident took place.
She explained: “I almost went from feeling that I could never tell anyone to feeling like I had to tell someone during that period.
“I also started to have therapy and discussed it regularly with her and it sort of got to the point where I couldn’t move forwards or recover without telling someone that it had happened.”
After an investigation, Mr Beckwith received a final written warning, but did not loose his position in the firm as a partner.
The tearful woman said: “I was concerned that he wasn’t being removed from his position, that it was decided whilst part of my initial complaint was upheld, that he would remain in post.
“He remained as a trainee partner and an appraisal partner and a mentor and I felt that was a concern given my own experience.”
The Solicitors Regulatory Authority then brought charges of breaching professional standards and acting in a way that discredits his profession.
DRINKING
The hearing was previously told how the woman had been with a group of colleagues, including Mr Beckwith, who had been drinking after work on 1 July 2016. Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that she was ‘feeling more and more drunk and more and more impaired’ after leaving a City pub with Beckwith after an ‘impromptu’ evening out with colleagues.
She says she fell asleep in the taxi and woke up to find her jeans undone. She said Beckwith then entered her flat to use her bathroom.
The alleged victim said her memories were not ‘fully formed’ but she later woke up to find herself partially clothed in bed and Beckwith sitting on the floor. She said she could not remember how she came to be undressed.
She told Beckwith she ‘did not feel comfortable’ and repeated ‘you are a partner’ and ‘you are married’, the tribunal heard.
CLIMBED
The woman said she then woke up to find Beckwith in bed with her. She said he commented on her body, touched her and climbed on top of her. She added that she ‘tried to stop him’ but ‘couldn’t really push him off’. She had no recollection whether sexual intercourse took place.
Questioned by Riel Karmy-Jones QC, for the Solicitors Regulation Authority, recalled an earlier incident when Beckwith attempted to kiss her after an alcohol-fuelled work event. On that day, lawyers began drinking champagne and wine on a coach at around 10am. .