Self-styled Lord Harley was booted out of the profession last year
Alan Blacker, aka Lord Harley, has lost a High Court appeal against his striking off.
Appearing before Mr Justice Davis in Court 18 of the High Court this morning, Blacker — who wasn’t in attendance — was represented pro bono by Goldsmith Chambers’ Dr Anton van Dellen.
No show by Blacker at the High Court.
— Law Bytes (@law_bytes) January 17, 2017
According to chat forum LawBytes — a site that was born out of a Blacker-related Legal Cheek comments thread — a large part of this morning’s proceedings was spent dealing with the ex-solicitor advocate’s medical evidence.
One of the forum’s more prolific posters known only as “administrator” was in attendance. He revealed that Blacker was, once again, unwilling “to have his medical condition put into the public domain” and therefore wanted part of the hearing conducted in private. Having heard various arguments, Davis dismissed the request.
Relying on the the Equality Act 2010, van Dellen then argued that the Solicitor’s Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) acted beyond its remit when it decided to push on with original proceedings in Blacker’s absence. Unfortunately, for Blacker anyway, Davis stated that the SDT was justified in its decision to proceed and rejected the appeal.
Judge rejects appeal based on Equality Act #gameover
— Law Bytes (@law_bytes) January 17, 2017
Blacker was also appealing against the original costs order of £86,000 and the further £7,500 relating to his failed re-hearing. This too was rejected by the judge. Adding insult to injury, the SRA then applied for an additional £15,000 for Blacker’s latest legal challenge. If agreed this will take his final bill to more than £100,000.
Legal Cheek first reported that Blacker was appealing the SDT’s decision to boot him out of the profession earlier this month.
While it seems Blacker didn’t want to go down without a fight, today’s result means his striking off order still stands. This was made last July following a two-day hearing at the SDT, at which the tribunal found the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) had proven seven out of eight charges against him. These included dishonesty, failure to comply with insurance and account regulations, and making “inaccurate and misleading” statements about his academic qualifications and professional memberships.
Blacker — who was once described as “like something out of Harry Potter” by a top Welsh judge — still labels himself as “Pro bono Senior counsel” on his LinkedIn profile.
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