Nick West hit headlines back in 2014 when emails between him and Premier League chief Richard Scudamore were leaked
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has today confirmed that a DLA Piper partner who traded a series of sexist emails with a client, will face a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).
Nick West (pictured below) — a sports and media law specialist at the global giant — hit headlines back in 2014, after an email exchange between himself, and Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore, was leaked to the press.
In an email to Scudamore, West reportedly said, about the Premier League’s planning and projects director, that he had “spent all day fending Edna off my graphite shaft. She is terribly relentless isn’t she?!” In another, he seemed to offer the Premier league big-wig a spot of financial advice, apparently saying “save the cash in case you find some gash”.
Standing by their man, DLA Piper conducted their own thorough internal investigation into the matter. Upon the conclusion of which, a spokesperson for the firm said:
We have concluded that there was a failure to meet the high professional standards in which we take pride as a firm, whilst recognising that these were emails exchanged between friends and accessed without permission. We have accepted Mr West’s assurances that these emails are not reflective of his beliefs and values and that there will be no recurrence of this behaviour.
West also issued an apology, stating he had “let myself, my firm and its clients down” and reassured those who called for his head, that it wouldn’t happen again.
But West wasn’t in the clear just yet.
Fast-forward to October 2015 and rumours began circulating amongst the legal press that West was now subject to an SRA investigation. Remaining tight-lipped, DLA Piper, at the time, would neither confirm nor deny that one of their top earners was once again under scrutiny.
Despite the firm’s wall of silence over the issue, the SRA has today confirmed that West will have to face a tribunal over what it described as “inappropriate emails”.