On Thursday, I stood in Gray’s Inn and spoke words I had hardly dared to hope I would say: “This is a victory for women’s rights and free speech.” I had been locked in a battle with my regulatory body, the Bar Standards Board, for more than two and a half years and finally it was over. I won. They had accused me, a women’s rights barrister, of five counts of professional misconduct. My so-called crime? Criticising a domestic abuse judgment on social media.
I had represented a woman who alleged her husband had coercively controlled her into signing a postnuptial agreement. I argued that the high court judgment by Sir Jonathan Cohen had victim-blamed the wife, trivialised domestic abuse and pathologised her. I was accused of damaging the authority, impartiality and reputation of the entire judiciary. That’s no mean feat for a 34-year-old woman. I also said the ruling reflected a “boys’ club” attitude – at the time, the judge was a member of the then all-male Garrick Club. For that, I was accused of using gender-based, derogatory language for insinuating the judge is part of or influenced by “the boys’ club”.
