Details of hefty court penalty appear in recent BSB decision
A top commercial barrister was slapped with a fine of almost £18,000 earlier this summer after being caught more than twice the drink-drive limit, a recent regulatory decision has revealed.
Alan Maclean QC, a member of Blackstone Chambers, home to some of the country’s wealthiest barristers, was found to have driven a motor vehicle on 3 April of this year while over the legal alcohol limit. He had 92 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
The experienced silk, who was called to the bar in 1993, was convicted of drink driving at Oxford Magistrates’ Court in May and fined £17,833, according to the Bar Standards Board (BSB). Maclean was also disqualified from driving for 23 months, reduced by 23 weeks on successful completion of a drink-drive awareness course.
The regulator said that the Blackstone barrister had acted in a way likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession. He was reprimanded and fined a further £600.
Maclean told Legal Cheek:
“I accepted a single charge of driving under the influence of alcohol while on holiday. I immediately self-reported to the Bar Standards Board and fully accept the sanctions imposed.”
The offence was dealt with by way of ‘determination by consent’, an agreement that means the case was not sent to a disciplinary tribunal.
