Lawyer would 'benefit from diversity and inclusion training' after getting disciplined for showing sexual photo to female colleague in courtroom
Crawley Magistrates’ Court
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A senior lawyer has been told he could benefit from diversity and inclusion training after showing a colleague a meme of a naked woman.
Geoffrey White was found to have breached professional standards after making sexually explicit and derogatory comments to a probation officer at Crawley Magistrates’ Court in 2021.
The 66-year-old criminal defence solicitor from Sussex told the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT): “I got it catastrophically wrong."
A tribunal hearing said White would benefit from diversity and inclusion training after his inappropriate conduct in 2021 damaged the public’s trust and confidence in the legal industry.
The incident took place at Crawley Magistrates’ Court
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The probation officer, referred to as Person A, claimed White showed her a meme on his mobile phone of a naked woman lying down on a table at a barbeque with bottles covering her breasts.
The naked image had a caption to the effect of “if you have left your wife at the BBQ, please come and get her”, according to legal documents.
White, who runs his own law firm specialising in legal aid, then told Person A that "it looks a bit like you" and "your hair looks the same."
The SDT also found that White made further sexual comments about Person A in July 2021, when joking about a female client arrested on suspicion of having sex on a train.
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Both incidents took place when the court was not in session
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Person A overheard White tell a prosecutor that she "knows all about that, standard probation practice." The probation officer said that both incidents feel uneasy when she saw or spoke to him.
White claimed that he was trying to make Person A laugh rather than offend her. He added that he wanted to "lighten the mood" and diffuse the tension with the woman, who appeared “nervous and so serious” in her new role.
White told the tribunal: "I got it catastrophically wrong. I misjudged the situation very badly indeed...I’ve been physically and mentally abused on a daily basis and I deal with it by brushing it off and being frivolous about things....It is difficult to defend what is indefensible."
Person A added that while she did not consider the remarks sexual harassment or sexually motivated, she said White’s sense of humour is not appropriate for the workplace. Both incidents took place when the court was not in session.
White told the tribunal that he uses humour as a “coping mechanism” to deal with his stressful job, which often involves representing criminal defendants who are aggressive, mentally ill or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
He admitted to the allegations and said he accepted the consequences for his actions. He was ordered to pay £12,000 in court costs.
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