The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearings into the Gary Senior matter ended on Thursday.

A final judgment on the Gary Senior case is expected next month, a panel of judges said in a tribunal on Thursday.

With Baker McKenzie's former London head Senior potentially facing a fine, a suspension, or even a ban from the profession, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said the decisions on the allegations against him, his former firm, and two other former senior colleagues will be handed down on June 12.

Thursday marked the last day of the hearings into a case which started in December, in which Senior stands accused of sexual harassment allegedly perpetrated on a junior associate in 2012. Baker McKenzie, its former head of dispute resolution Tom Cassels, as well as former head of human resources Martin Blackburn, are all accused of having allegedly mishandled the internal investigation into the matter at the time.

The hearing, which resumed in late April via Zoom after a four-month break, ended with closing submissions from Andrew Tabachnik QC, the counsel for the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

Tabachnik contested previous arguments made by Blackburn's counsel that following Blackburn's 2015 letter to the SRA, the regulator did "precisely nothing."

Tabachnik said in court: "As a matter of fact, we responded to his letter by asking for details of the vague and particularised assertions he was making in his letter, but none were forthcoming. It is truly surprising that the SRA should have taken further something that he did not take further himself when he was at the firm."

On Wednesday, Tom Cassels and Martin Blackburn's respective counsels asked the SDT for full acquittal of their clients as part of their closing submissions.

Cassels' counsel, Richard Coleman QC, argued that the burden of alleged professional misconduct in handling the internal investigation into the matter lies with the firm rather than on his client, maintaining that Senior had played no part in establishing the investigation process.

On Tuesday, Coleman had also criticised Bakers for attempting to distance itself from the matter and withholding information and documents from parties in the proceedings.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, counsel for Blackburn, argued on Wednesday that any findings the SRA contends for against his client would be "inconceivable and unsustainable" and none would come "in miserable distance from professional misconduct".

SRA counsel Tabachnik replied to both their arguments by stating that the "plain vice" of allowing Senior to attempt to influence the investigation makes it "impossible to exclude insidious or unconscious influence", stressing that that uncertainty in itself is a "matter of serious regulatory concern."

A spokesperson for Bakers said in a statement: "We have been co-operating fully with the Solicitors Regulation Authority since the beginning of this process in 2018. We have learned much from this episode, recognised what went wrong and have well-established and effective policies and programs in place across the firm."

Read more:

Gary Senior Was Set to Become Gender Champion as Investigation Unfolded, Tribunal Hears

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

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