Gary Senior

Baker McKenzie's former London head Gary Senior said there were times when he wished he was dead amid the "acute stress" brought on by the investigation into his alleged sexual harassment, London's Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard on Friday.

Senior, who also stands accused of improperly influencing the internal investigation into the alleged 2012 incident, was asked questions about the intention behind emails he sent to Tom Cassels, the lead investigator into the matter at the time.

Senior said that his intention was simply to better cope with the process and that he was "suffering acute stress".

"I don't believe I was suicidal at the time, but there were dark moments," he told the hearing. "There were moments when I kind of wished I was dead, but a lot of people say that. When you are feeling in a bad way, you have got to talk to someone."

"There were moments when I felt very, very low," he said, adding that he had conversations with Cassels and Blackburn at the time in which he was expressing his "deep remorse and apology" but remained careful as to what he was communicating to them.

He also said there is evidence of him asking Cassels and Blackburn to find "somebody to talk to", while carrying on his job as a managing partner, but to make sure it was kept confidential.

He also added that the current proceedings have had an impact on him. Earlier this week, he mentioned that he'd found Person A's evidence in the hearings "distressing".

In a tense morning session, counsel for all the respondents asked the tribunal to take action relating to a RollOnFriday story published on Friday morning that provided details of a leaked Simmons & Simmons report into the firm's handling of the episode.

The counsel requested the tribunal to ask the publication to take down the story and to invite RollOnFriday's "editor" to explain why it was published in the first place. They called it "inadmissible", "irrelevant" and "prejudicial" to the proceedings and said there "clearly is a deliberate attempt to derail the proceedings".

The tribunal panel said there was no formal order it could issue and it would leave it to the parties to decide how they want to deal with the issue. The story has since been taken down.