Emily Thornberry MP, Labour’s Shadow Attorney General, has today written to the Bar Council’s Nicholas Lavender QC after it was revealed that David Cameron’s newly-appointed Solicitor General Robert Buckland was found guilty by the Bar Council of professional misconduct in 2011.

The full text of the letter is below:

Nicholas Lavender QC
The Bar Council
289-293 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7HZ

Dear Nicholas

As you will be aware, it has emerged that Robert Buckland MP, the new Solicitor General, was found guilty by the Bar Council of professional misconduct in 2011. The Council of the Inns of Court considered that he had brought the profession into disrepute following his intervention in an enquiry into a racism-fuelled fight at the school at which he was governor. It was found that he had improperly accessed the case notes of one of the defendants. In particular the statements of children who had witnessed a horrible violent incident.

My understanding is that Mr Buckland conducted his own “investigation” into the incident, despite the fact that there was already a criminal investigation, and during the course of this demanded case papers from the defence and then distressed the mother of the victim by approaching her with his “findings”. The tribunal concluded that Mr Buckland “had no entitlement to those papers” and so had engaged in activity “likely to bring the legal profession into disrepute.”

As Solicitor General, Mr Buckland is an ex officio member of the Bar Council, whose mission it is to promote “the highest standards of ethics, equality and diversity across the profession.”
• Does a finding of professional misconduct disqualify an individual from becoming a member of the Bar Council?
• Is there any precedent of a senior member having had such a finding made against them?
• Could the Bar Council expand on the nature of penalty that Mr Buckland and if it is correct to say, as the Solicitor General’s Office has, that the ruling against him is now spent?
• My understanding is that some rulings are taken off the website after two years, but is this tantamount to being spent? I would also be grateful if you could disclose whether any the Bar Council was approached by Number 10 for the purposes of any background checks that were being made into the appointment of Mr Buckland and for that matter, of the new Attorney General, Jeremy Wright.

You may also be aware that by his own admission, Mr Buckland did not reveal the existence of this conviction when being offered the post of Solicitor General.
• Does failure to declare constitute a fresh misconduct?
• Equally, would falsely claiming that a disciplinary conviction is spent when it is not constitute a fresh misconduct?
• Furthermore, in deciding this, should the Bar Council consider whether his application for a new practicing certificate should be granted?
In summary I would be grateful for your views on whether Robert Buckland is a proper person to be the Solicitor General of England and Wales.

The post of Solicitor General is a very important one and it is essential that its occupant commands the respect of the profession and the public. Your answers to these questions will help establish whether this is the case with Mr Buckland.

Best wishes

Emily Thornberry
MP for Islington South and Shadow Attorney General