Former colleagues have said that a firm’s director was ‘jealous’ of his junior’s rumoured workplace relationship and sent her a ‘torrent’ of messages in the early hours of the morning.
People who worked alongside solicitor Oliver Bretherton at international firm Gowling WLG told the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal today they had noticed his behaviour towards junior females in the office.
Bretherton, who is married and now 41, is alleged to have used his seniority to take advantage of three junior colleagues, sent inappropriate messages and acted in a way that was sexually motivated.
On day seven of the hearing, the tribunal heard from Gowling staff who had noted Bretherton’s conduct and made statements to the SRA.
One witness said Bretherton had described one complainant, referred to as Person A, as ‘the fittest’ after interviewing her for a role at the firm. The witness said Bretherton and Person A were flirting with each other in the first week of her having joined Gowling. The tribunal has previously heard that the pair engaged in a ‘sexual fantasy relationship’ and it is alleged that Bretherton asked her to send explicit pictures and videos for his own gratification.
The same witness said Bretherton ‘started the gossip’ suggesting that a second complainant, Person B, had begun a relationship with another unnamed director at the firm.
Bretherton and Person B had been friends, but the witness said his conduct after this point was ‘bordering on obsession’ and he was ‘jealous’.
‘It was a preoccupation,’ said the witness. ‘It was at the forefront of Oliver’s mind and would dominate a lot of conversations.’
Another witness, a friend of Person B, told the tribunal she had a ‘good instinct [Bretherton] was over-friendly’.
She explained: ‘It was a well-known view among trainee intakes he would speak to the females and not to the males… it was always that Mr Bretherton favoured selecting female trainees over a male trainee. When he has had a male trainee he has not socialised with them and it has been purely work orientated.’
The witness said female colleagues would meet and suggest Bretherton was ‘too friendly’ and there was a mentality that they would try to look out for each other.
She added that it felt ‘a little strange’ Bretherton and Person B were so convivial in the office but she started to have insecurities about how the position developed.
‘There were certain situations, in particular the annual party in 2018. I specifically said to Person B it was too much after the way [Bretherton] behaved to me, hounding me for over an hour asking me where she was.
‘That goes beyond any relationship I understood they had and the line was crossed at that point. [Person B] was very angry at the torrent of abuse and text messages she had woken up to [the next morning]. It was verging on accusatory about where she was and who she was with.’
Chloe Carpenter, representing Bretherton, suggested the witness’s view of him had been ‘clouded with hindsight’ after Person B had fallen out with him, and she did not have a negative impression of him at the time.
Bretherton, who now works for virtual firm gunnercooke, is to set to give evidence this afternoon or tomorrow. He denies acting without integrity. The hearing continues.
