Tribunal found Darren Shaw engaged in unwanted sexualised conduct, inappropriate remarks and coercive behaviour towards junior colleagues at a firm conference
A senior lawyer who made unwanted advances towards junior female colleagues at a law firm conference engaged in conduct amounting to “a failure to maintain appropriate professional boundaries, an abuse of seniority, and behaviour apt to cause offence, humiliation, and distress”, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has found.
The ruling concerns Darren Shaw, then head of financial products at class action practice Keller Postman now part of KP Law and events surrounding the firm’s all-staff annual conference and dinner in Manchester in October 2022.
The tribunal found proven misconduct involving unwanted and inappropriate sexualised remarks and/or advances, unwanted physical contact and coercive behaviour directed at more than one colleague. Some conduct was found to have been sexually motivated.
Among the incidents examined was a remark made during a raffle featuring a Virgin Experience Day prize, where Mr Shaw was alleged to have implied a junior colleague was a virgin.
The tribunal also heard evidence from a wheelchair-using employee who said Mr Shaw approached her uninvited, took her hands and attempted to manoeuvre her onto the dancefloor, controlling her wheelchair so she could not move away. When she repeatedly said she did not want to dance, he responded: “Oh stop, you’re teasing me.”
The SDT found that conduct towards the colleague “restricted her autonomy and ability to move away” and accepted that Mr Shaw did not stop when objections were raised or discomfort became apparent.
Further allegations upheld by the tribunal included approaching colleagues uninvited, adjusting one employee’s hat while commenting that she had “a great face”, inviting another to “come to the bar alone”, and making remarks about colleagues’ appearance during post-event drinks.
One colleague described Mr Shaw asking whether anyone had told her she was “beautiful, gorgeous, really attractive”. Another recounted comments including “you smell like coconuts”, questions about whether she was married or single, and remarks about what he would do “with those eyes”, accompanied by unwanted physical contact.
The tribunal also accepted evidence from a colleague who said Mr Shaw attempted to stop her leaving after dancing with him, including touching described as rubbing to the front of her stomach or upper leg before another employee intervened.
The SDT concluded that the power imbalance created by Mr Shaw’s senior position made it more difficult for junior colleagues to challenge his behaviour at the time.
Following complaints, Keller Postman instructed Gowling WLG to conduct an investigation.
Mr Shaw did not participate in the SDT proceedings. However, the tribunal considered a January email in which he alleged there was “a corral of people in Birmingham office encouraging each other to make wild assertions without evidence after the event”.
He wrote that management had identified no concerns arising from the event and that the investigation was merely “a process to be followed”.
He further asserted: “My employer saw no reason for me to be dismissed, and I remained with the firm; CILEX saw no case to be pursued but the SRA believed there was an investigation.”
Mr Shaw described the SRA referral as a “paper exercise”, adding that the firm’s compliance officer had apologised because regulatory escalation had not been intended.
The tribunal held that those comments demonstrated a continuing failure to recognise the seriousness of the misconduct. It concluded that Mr Shaw’s conduct “amounted to an abuse of his position and harassment”.
Because Mr Shaw is a chartered legal executive rather than a solicitor, the SDT imposed a section 43 order, preventing him from working in an SRA-regulated practice without prior regulatory consent.
He was also ordered to pay £20,670 in costs.