The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided not to appeal a decision that saw former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Ryan Beckwith fined rather than banned or suspended.

In October, Beckwith, who stood accused of engaging in sexual activity with a junior colleague without her consent, was fined £35,000 and ordered to pay costs to the tune of £200,000.

Many in the industry had expected the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to either suspend or ban Beckwith. However, in its list of reasons for its decision, published earlier this month, the tribunal had said that its judgment was justified on the grounds that Beckwith posed no future threat to the public, and that the incident was a "one-off".