Gary Senior's adjourned hearing will go on via Zoom.

The hearing into former Baker McKenzie partner Gary Senior will go ahead as scheduled on April 27 via video conferencing app Zoom, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) decided on Wednesday.

Senior's hearing originally started in December, but was then adjourned midway through until April 27 due to a respondent unable to attend the hearing.

However, in light of the COVID-19 lockdown, the tribunal closed its offices on March 18, according to its website.

During Monday's case management hearing looking into whether to adjourn or hold Gary Senior's late April hearing virtually, the tribunal decided it would be best to go ahead with the hearing as scheduled via Zoom.

During the hearing, the barristers for Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Baker McKenzie, Gary Senior, and former partner Tom Cassels argued that there is "no compelling reason" not to hold the hearing remotely at the end of this month.

Andrew Tabachnik QC, barrister for the SRA in this case, argued that due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic over when all participants would be able to reconvene in court, a further adjournment would be detrimental to the case.

He said: "We could quite easily go well into next year before another hearing could be facilitated."

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, barrister for former Baker McKenzie human resources head Martin Blackburn, argued the case should be adjourned for another four months, although Blackburn has not made a formal application for adjournment yet.

Laidlaw argued in the hearing that the tribunal has already been looking at potential dates to hold it conventionally in late September or in December, in light of the extraordinary circumstances.

He added that the possibility that any of the participants in this case may catch the virus by the end of the month should also be considered, and therefore adjourning the hearing would be reasonable.

As one of the SDT's first ever virtual hearings, the attendees experienced some tech issues which led to a 10-minute pause, and moment at the start of the hearing where a lawyer spoke without knowing that their microphone was on.

Senior stands accused of sexual harassment allegedly perpetrated on a junior associate in 2012. Baker McKenzie, Tom Cassels as well as Martin Blackburn are all accused of having mishandled the internal investigation into the matter at the time.

In December, Senior admitted in court that his behaviour towards the junior associate amounted to sexual harassment. He also recounted during his cross-examination that he had suffered "acute stress" at the time the internal investigation was handled.

The case will resume with Martin Blackburn's cross-examination on April 27.

Read more:

'I Kind of Wished I Was Dead', Gary Senior Tells Disciplinary Tribunal

Gary Senior Investigators 'Betrayed Their Colleagues', Baker McKenzie London Head Claimed

Gary Senior Admits Harassment, But Denies 'Micro-Managing' Investigation