The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found Gary Senior guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Former Baker McKenzie London head Gary Senior has been fined £55,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal but not banned from working in the legal profession.

He has also agreed to pay costs of £40,000 plus VAT to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which brought the case, his QC said.

The ruling on Friday afternoon by the U.K. regulatory body is related to Senior's behaviour towards a junior colleague in 2012 and the subsequent investigation into the matter.

On Friday morning, the tribunal found on Friday morning that Senior had committed serious professional misconduct in the incident with a junior lawyer, and in seeking to improperly influence the internal investigation into the matter in 2012. However, the panel of judges did not find Senior guilty of failing to report himself to the regulator.

The hearing, which originally started in December saw Senior standing accused of sexual harassment 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, were all accused of having allegedly mishandled the internal investigation into the matter at the time.

The panel of judges decided on Friday that all the allegations against the firm, Cassels and Blackburn, were left unproved.

Baker McKenzie's lawyer, Patricia Robertson QC, said that the firm was asking the tribunal to order the SRA to pay its costs of up to £304,000, covering a period from mid-April until June 12.

She said on Friday that it was unreasonable for the regulator to have continued the case against the firm after the hearing was adjourned in December 2019, which was due to one of the defendants being unable to attend. Lawyers for Cassels have also asked for the SRA to pay his entire costs.

The SRA, meanwhile, is looking for Bakers to pay its own costs of an unspecified amount.

The tribunal will reconvene on June 15 to accept further costs applications from the lawyers representing Blackburn.

The hearing ended last month with revelations that the Senior matter had previously been reported to the regulator in 2015.

Gary Senior said in a statement provided on his behalf: "I bitterly regret what happened in 2012. The matter was not covered up by the firm in 2012. An investigation was carried out by the firm involving a number of senior partners.

"At the time I believed I behaved appropriately in that investigation while cooperating with them and no comment to the contrary was made to me by those conducting the process. I cannot make any further comment until I have studied the Tribunal's reasons for deciding as they have, as they did not give any reasons for their decision today."

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