One need look no further than this page to appreciate the depth of the controversy surrounding barrister Gordon Pringle’s one-year suspension for racism.
So far the debate has focused on the severity of the punishment and the test used by the Inns of Court disciplinary tribunal to determine whether he was guilty of racism. The punishment itself is certainly severe, but if the Bar Council really is determined to stamp out racism then a clear message must be sent out to its members that all forms of discrimination and harassment are intolerable. It is interesting to observe that in one of the few other cases of this ilk, Nigel Hamilton QC was only suspended for three months for sexually harassing two women back in 1995. Is sexual harassment less serious than racism? Surely not. In order to have their full effect, clear messages must also be consistent.
