A senior partner in his 40s has been suspended for two years after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (‘SDT’) heard of inappropriate sexual conduct with a number of female staff at his firm. Jasvinger Singh Gill has admitted to having sex with a junior colleague on his office desk on more than one occasion and engaging in other inappropriate sexual conduct and statements involving additional younger female employees.
Gill stated during the hearing that he had taken out one colleague to a pub in 2015 for lunch before bringing her to his office to kiss her. This same colleague was told by Gill of his preference for female employees’ work outfits to consist of open toe shoes, short skirts and stockings, not tights. He had referred to his preferences as ‘proper office attire’ to the younger colleague.
The senior partner, who qualified in 1999, also admitted to arguably inappropriate conduct in 2019 in Bristol, when he brought a younger colleague to his hotel room before providing her with alcohol on his bed. This was done before a work event.
Additionally, the SDT heard how Gill began a sexual relationship with a fellow employee of the firm, with a majority of sexual incidents happening in his office with the door closed. The case continued to hear how Gill acted in a flirtatious way with the female colleague in the office through physical touching. The pair had also had sex on his office desk twice between April 2019 and October 2020.
Further, Gill had engaged a fourth colleague into the mix by also explaining to her that the ‘preferred’ dress code of the law firm consisted of skirts instead of trousers. This progressed to Gill asking her when she was planning to wear a specific dress. And would ask her
The senior partner was originally due to appear in a full hearing, however after considering the facts of the case, he provided admissions which the SRA accepted. This was, however, done after Gill attempted to mitigate his position on health grounds; all of which were eventually redacted.
After the SDT heard from Gill it stated that his actions and statements ‘placed the female colleagues with an unsettling dilemma that rebuffing him would or could count against them in their employment’ and were ‘wrong and inappropriate’. The tribunal also stated that ‘[His] conduct had not been a matter relating to his private life alone as it had been tied closely to his practise as a solicitor and in fact arose from within the work environment itself’. It continued its conclusion by confirming how ‘[He] had, on repeated occasions, used his position of influence and authority in the workplace to create situations in which office relationships, sexual in intent, were initiated and pursued by him.’
The Tribunal handed down a 24-month suspension. Gill is also required to pay costs of £85,000.
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