Jasvinder Gill was a senior partner at Hatten Wyatt in Kent, England. But he’s now suspended from the legal profession for two years — and ordered to pay £85,501 in costs — after a disciplinary tribunal found he “used his position of influence and authority in the workplace to create situations in which office relationships, sexual in intent, were initiated and pursued by him.”
That’s not a great look.
As reported by RollOnFriday, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found Gill repeatedly created an “unsettling dilemma” for junior staff members “that rebuffing him would or could count against them in their continuing employment.”
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The Tribunal heard evidence that Gill kissed one staffer in his office, on other occasions he stroked her hair or gave her shoulder massages. He also told this person that “proper office attire” was “open-toed shoes, stockings and not tights, and short skirts.”
For another individual, Gill invited her to his hotel room after a work event. He offered her an alcoholic beverage and changed into “loungewear” before splitting a pizza with her.
Gill also embarked in a consensual sexual relationship with a junior lawyer at the firm. He kissed her in the office, and had sex with her on his desk on two occasions.
Overall, the Tribunal found Gill “conducted himself towards more junior staff in a way which was wrong and inappropriate.” And his actions “had not been a matter relating to his private life alone as it had been tied closely to his practise as a solicitor and in fact arose from within the work environment itself.”
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Gill has said he recognizes there was “inherent power balance between himself, as the senior partner of the firm and a solicitor in his forties” which may have prevented others more junior than him “from refusing to engage with him and/or from refusing his requests.”
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].