Is senior junior at 1 Gray’s Inn Square the most foul-mouthed lawyer on Twitter?
There something worryingly liberating about social media — as quite a few wannabe and actual lawyers have found to their cost.
Now Legal Cheek has unearthed perhaps the bolshiest barrister on Twitter: step forward Barbara Hewson of 1 Gray’s Inn Square.
The civil liberties and public law specialist is not afraid to dish it large-style from her keyboard — notably dropping what the Yanks daintily refer to as the “c-bomb” (that’s cunt to you and me) with impunity.
And she targets some big names, not least former IRA golden boy and current deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, Martin McGuinness. According to a screenshot of a since deleted tweet, Hewson recently e-shouted “grow up you cunt” at the pugnacious Irishman and several others.
In another fit of Twitter pique, Hewson apparently lashed out at several on the social media site with this succinct request: “Get of my tits, you cunts.”
“I have no idea who you are, and couldn’t give a shit — you are an attention seeking cunt,” is an additional screenshotted example of Bab’s finely-honed — albeit slightly Tourette’s-tinged — social media advocacy. She also refers to at least one fellow tweeter as a “semi-moron”.
Hewson was called to the bar in England and Wales in 1985. But she has spread the love, joining the bar in the Irish Republic in 1991 and in Northern Ireland in 2000.
According to her set’s website, Hewson’s 2014 Chambers & Partners Directory entry ranks the barrister as a:
“Leading junior in Court of Protection work, and calls her ‘bright, committed and passionate…her client manner is outstanding.”
Presumably, she either reins in the language during cons or she attracts the type of clients that enjoy being harangued with some of the most robust examples of traditional Anglo-Saxon vernacular.
Of course, there’s always the possibility with The Twitter that Hewson’s account has been hacked, and that she is ironically one of the most softly spoken and demure members of the bar. However, she declined to respond to emails regarding her account and has not clarified that point.
In November 2012, the University of Westminster awarded Hewson an honorary fellowship for services to law. Legal Cheek would like to add to that its own commendation for making the legal profession Twittersphere just that little bit more entertaining.