Lawyer suspended for sexually exploiting juniors

AN ASIAN-ORIGIN lawyer has been suspended from practising as a solicitor for two years for pursuing a sexual relationship with numerous women.

The solicitors' disciplinary tribunal found that Jasvinder Gill (50), a senior partner at a law firm Hatten Wyatt, had abused his “position of authority and influence” to exploit junior lawyers.

Gill, who qualified as a solicitor in 1999, had inappropriately behaved with four younger colleagues, who have not been named, between 2015 and 2020.

The tribunal said there was an "inherent power imbalance" that may have prevented his junior colleagues from "refusing his requests".

He used his influence to create situations in which office relationships, sexual in intent, were initiated, the tribunal said.

The judgment, signed off by the chair of the tribunal Alison Banks, notes that though Gill is an “experienced and well-regarded solicitor who had built a thriving business”, but behaved with his junior staff in an inappropriate manner.

She added that his conduct put his employees in the unsettling dilemma that rebuffing him could count against them in their employment.

The tribunal ordered him to pay £85,501 as costs.