Climate campaigner Timothy Crosland has been disbarred after disclosing a draft Supreme Court judgment which had been circulated under embargo.
Crosland, called by Inner Temple in 1994, failed to appear before a disciplinary tribunal on charges of professional misconduct brought by the Bar Standards Board.
On 15 December 2020, Crosland disclosed a draft judgment relating to the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The Supreme Court had placed an embargo on the judgment for the following day.
The tribunal found that Crosland ‘behaved in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession and behaved in a way which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity.’
The tribunal considered aggravating factors of Crosland’s ‘deliberate action’ including his refusal to remedy the matter when asked to do so by the Supreme Court. He also disclosed the judgment ‘in full knowledge that such disclosure was prohibited and was a criminal contempt of court.’
Commenting on the order, a BSB spokesperson said: ‘The tribunal found that Mr Crosland’s actions interfered with the proper administration of justice, thereby diminishing public confidence in Mr Crosland and the profession.
‘Disclosing a judgment upon which the Supreme Court has placed an embargo and being found to have committed a criminal contempt of court are serious matters and the tribunal’s decision to disbar Mr Crosland reflects this.’
In 2021, Crosland was fined £5,000 by three Supreme Court justices and ordered to pay costs of £15,000 for contempt. A second appeal, in which he argued that the Supreme Court wrongly disregarded his intentions and failed to act impartially, was unanimously dismissed by a panel of five justices in December.
Crosland told the Gazette that, as far as he is concerned, he he had already abandoned his legal career and relinquished his professional status in advance of the proceedings.
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