Sent her ‘unsolicited items’ including flowers and Haribo sweets
A City solicitor has been suspended from practice following a stalking judgment against him.
Matthew Howells, previously an associate in the London office of US law firm Cooley, has been suspended and ordered to pay £2,096 in costs by way of agreed outcome with the solicitors’ regulator. Howells admitted that between March and July 2022, whilst at the firm, he stalked an ex-girlfriend.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) brought the application by relying on Howells’ conviction at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court in March 2023.
Howells received a 12-month community order, which included a 10-day rehabilitation requirement and a two-year restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim — directly or indirectly — or visiting her home. He was ordered to pay £500 in compensation to the victim.
He left Cooley in April 2023.
The SDT has now approved an agreed outcome and suspended Howells, because “there was a need to protect the public and the reputation of the profession from future harm”.
The allegation, admitted by Howells, reads that he “pursued a course of conduct which amounted to the stalking of Person A” and which amounted to the harassment of her in that he “repeatedly made contact and sent her unsolicited items”.
These unsolicited items included “leaving a chocolate Easter Egg, Easter card, bouquet of flowers and a packet of Haribo Tangfastics outside of Person A’s door”.
Howells further admitted to visiting the victim’s address after seeing her on the tube.
“He accepted that she told him the relationship was over and that he should stop contacting her” and “accepted that he had used a dating app to have contact,” according to the agreed outcome.
The agreed outcome says the “behaviours underpinning Mr Howells’ conviction involved phone calls, emails, and the leaving of pre-purchased gifts, which, while inappropriate, did not involve threats, intimidation, or physical harm and such actions were only ever intended as gestures of goodwill in a bid for forgiveness and reconciliation”.
Howells said he “regrets the impact of his behaviour”, took “full responsibility for his conduct”, and “remains deeply committed to the legal profession”.
Whilst Howells’ mitigation was not endorsed by the SRA, the SDT held his conduct “did not necessitate” indefinite suspension or striking-off, because a six months’ suspension “was appropriate and proportionate to Mr Howells’ misconduct”.
The suspension began on 27 February.
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