Harry Potter lawyer claims the tribunal deliberately listed the hearing on his birthday and pleads for comfortable gallows
Alan Blacker, the controversial solicitor-advocate who goes by the bizarre title of Lord Harley of Counsel, has taken to LinkedIn to criticise both the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) over the handling of his case.
Blacker will face a SDT hearing on 12 July in relation to a number of charges laid against him by the SRA.
Issuing a statement earlier today, Blacker urged his vast number of connections to play “judge” and decide if the SDT is being “fair” by refusing to move the tribunal closer to his home town of Rochdale, and goes on to question whether the SRA are being “vindictive”.
Blacker also makes reference to the now famous incident involving His Honour Judge Wynn Morgan at Cardiff Crown Court back in August 2014. Morgan described Blacker as “looking like something out of Harry Potter”. Disputing the fact he was wearing colourful ribbons and badges on his robes, Blacker claims he wore only “one emblem” which was out of sight on the bottom of his sleeve.
Taking the time to trumpet the good work his charity called the Joined Armed Forces Legal Advocacy Services (JAFLAS) has performed, Blacker claims to have helped over “10,000 individuals and has suffered no complaints”.
Blacker also can’t resist having a pop at the press for advancing only one side of the story. The statement continues:
There has only been one side of this case advanced by the press and by one prepubescent journalist, though the newspapers then regurgitated what he has published. His research was ill-advised and full of horrendous errors.
Legal Cheek isn’t sure which journalist Blacker is referring to.
With his two day-long disciplinary hearing scheduled for 12 July, which happens to cover his birthday, Blacker suggests that this may be a deliberate move on behalf of the SDT.
The tribunal deliberately listed the hearing on Lord Harley’s birthday, coincidence? Well it was listed with less than seven days’ notice and Lord Harley received the notice of listing before the request for dates of availability.
Continuing he says:
I am convinced if they wanted me to appear they would make every effort to hear the matter in Manchester, it is a straightforward request and will cost the same as hearing it in London. I have said before and I’ll say it again, if they wanted to deal with this properly they would make the gallows as comfortable as possible.
Back in April, Blacker had a claim for ‘interim relief’ preventing files containing information about him being made public struck out.
Mr Justice Fraser — sitting in the High Court’s Queen’s Bench Division in Manchester — booted out Blacker’s claim against the Law Society ruling that there was “no serious issue to be tried”.