Gary Senior

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) hearing into the conduct of Baker McKenzie's former London managing partner Gary Senior opened this morning (December 2) to a packed courtroom, which heard allegations that he had drunkenly attempted to kiss a junior associate.

Senior stands accused of "seeking to initiate intimate activity" with a person at his former firm, known only as Person A, whom he had "authority and responsibility over".

On the first day of the 15-day hearing, the counsel for the SRA Andrew Tabachnik QC elaborated on the allegations made against Senior in a witness statement by Person A – a junior associate of six-months' post-qualification experience.

According to the statement, on February 23, 2012, Senior, Person A and about 100 other members of staff attended a recruitment dinner. Later on, a smaller group went out to a bar and then onto a nightclub before going back to Senior's hotel room at about 2am, where they ordered more alcohol.

Before 3am, the party broke up and only Senior and Person A were left in the room after he invited her to stay, according to Person A.

Senior proceeded to tell Person A she was attractive and attempted to kiss her on the neck, which her barrister argued was "unwelcome" and "unwanted".

Shortly after Person A left the room, allegedly at just past 3am, she received an email from Senior stating: "I'm sorry."

Throughout the weekend, Person A emailed herself details of the events of that Friday night and decided to call in sick on Monday, as she "could not face coming into work".

In an email to Witness B referring to the alleged incident, she stated: "I feel very uncomfortable about it and I am going to call in sick tomorrow as I don't want to be in the office."

As a result, on the Monday following the incident, Person A was not in the office when Senior is alleged to have visited her office, apparently to apologise.

During that week, the incident was reported to former Baker McKenzie head of human resources Martin Blackburn, who then met with Person A in a coffee shop to discuss the issue.

During that meeting, he allegedly read out a statement from Senior stating he was "deeply sorry" for his behaviour and was "terribly embarrassed". The statement further added: "I was drunk, it was a moment of madness. One of the reasons why I am a popular managing partner is because I enjoy drinking with others."

He then acknowledged that what had happened in the hotel room was "clearly not right" and that when he gets drunk, "he gets tactile and affectionate, but he doesn't get unpleasant".

Blackburn and Senior allegedly spoke about the situation the following day, with the latter stating in an email to Senior he was "confident we will get through it".

On February 29, Blackburn decided to take legal advice from an external source on the matter – James Davies at Lewis Silkin – and told Senior about his intention to do that.

A Baker McKenzie spokesperson said in a statement: "We have been cooperating fully with the SRA since the beginning of this process last year. In September 2018, we shared with the SRA the findings of the report we commissioned into the 2012 incident, which was carried out in conjunction with the law firm Simmons & Simmons. We've learned much from this episode, recognised what went wrong and have well-established and effective policies and programmes in place across the firm."

The hearing continues.