Married top lawyer fined £35,000 after groping drunk junior colleague after work party
A MARRIED partner at one of Britain’s top five legal firms has been fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £200,000 in costs after groping a very drunk junior colleague.
Ryan Beckwith, 41, was found to have breached the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s principles by going home with the female solicitor, in her 20s, after a works party.
She told the tribunal she woke to find him in her flat in July 2016.
Beckwith was accused of attempting to kiss the 20-year-old after attending a celebratory event at a pub in Oxford in May.
The Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal panel found there was not enough evidence to prove that claim, but weeks later in July they took an Uber to her home in West London.
She claimed he tricked his way into he flat by claiming he needed to use the toilet and the next thing she could remember is Beckwith on her bed naked from the waist down.
He claimed the night they spent together at her flat was ‘a consensual sexual encounter between two adults.’
Beckwith has not been convicted of any offences but the panel found he engaged in sexual activity, where he should have known his conduct was inappropriate.
Just hours before the ruling he quit Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Fleet Street, London.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal did not rule on consent and said he could still practise.
Afterwards he was seen comforting his sobbing wife. His solicitor said: “My client is disappointed with the findings.”
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Alisdair Williamson QC, representing Mr Beckwith, said: “The finding renders all dust for Mr Beckwith. At the moment all is dust and bleak for Mr Beckwith.
“He is a man who will bear this mark forever, he is a man, who other than this blemish, was a shining example to the profession.”
Panel chair Nicola Lucking said: “The respondent knew or ought to have known Person A was intoxicated to the extent her judgement was impaired.”
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