David Giles’ profile mysteriously disappears from set’s website following bar disciplinary panel finding
A leading London chambers has gone into lockdown after one of its pupil supervisors was slapped with a £4,000 fine for engaging in “conduct of a sexual nature towards his pupil, which was wholly inappropriate”.
Scant details are known about what actually happened because the tribunal that disciplined David Giles sat in private. But the Bar Standard Board (BSB) has confirmed that Giles is a member of 1 Gray’s Inn Square, a multi-disciplinary set in London with over 50 barristers.
However, Giles’ profile has been pulled from 1 Gray’s Inn Square’s website, although it remains in the Google Cache.
This morning Legal Cheek got in touch with the chambers to enquire about Giles’ vanishing profile.
We also asked what procedures the set has in place to protect pupils, and whether the pupil in question was able to complete her pupillage following the conduct, which took place between June and August 2012.
But 1 Gray’s Inn Square has not responded to our request for comment.
The Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service’s finding against Giles extends to just two paragraphs. It confirms that the barrister, who specialises in commercial and civil work, breached the Code of Conduct of the Bar of England and Wales by engaging in “conduct which was likely to bring the profession into disrepute”.
It adds that between 6 June-31 August 2012 Giles “engaged in conduct of sexual nature towards Miss X, his pupil, which was wholly inappropriate having regard to his position as her pupil supervisor”. The decision is listed as “open to appeal”.