A former head of legal services has been disbarred after he was found to have exchanged an ‘excessive amount’ of messages – some which were inappropriate – with a junior female colleague.
Barrister Michael Griffiths, called in May 1993, was the head of the legal services department at Gloucestershire Police. A five-person panel sitting in The Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service found all four charges against him proved.
While on a work-related trip in 2023, Griffiths was found to have made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature in the presence of junior female colleagues who were also attending the event.
On the train journey into London, Griffiths referred to a woman wearing a ‘short skirt’ and standing in the train aisle as ‘a nice addition to the office’, or words to that effect. When Person A, one of the junior female colleagues who was also attending the conference, suggested Griffiths book an overnight stay in a hotel room on the business card, in the presence of Person B, Mr Griffiths said words to the effect of: ‘I can take you there if you like, but I don’t think they do 20-minute sessions’.
Person A responded: ‘You’d never afford to take me in there anyway’ to which Griffiths said: ‘Oh trust me, if I was taking you in there, I could afford it’.
The conduct was found by the bar tribunal to amount to inappropriate and/or unwated direct contact with Person A and Person B when Griffiths was in a position of seniority.
His comments, the panel found, had the purpose or effect of violating Person A and Person B’s dignity, was humiliating and/or created an offensive environment for both women as well as an abuse of his senior professional position.
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Griffiths was also found to have exchanged WhatsApp messages with Person A, a junior female colleague, which were ‘inappropriate as between a senior barrister and a junior colleague’.
The tribunal found Griffiths’ conduct was inappropriate and/or amounted to unwanted direct contact with Person A when he was in a position of seniority.
Griffiths also shared intimate details about his relationship with his wife with Person A and was found to have shared an ‘excessive’ number of WhatsApp messages ‘with some of the content inappropriate in nature as between a senior barrister and a junior colleague’.
Griffiths was disbarred and the Bar Standards Board was told to not issue him with a practising certificate pending any appeal. He was also ordered to pay £2,880 costs.
A BSB spokesperson said Griffiths' actions were ‘incompatible with membership of the bar, and this is reflected in the decision of the tribunal.’
