A City lawyer has been suspended for reportedly groping coworkers, making racial statements, and getting so inebriated at work parties that he wet himself.
While a partner at SBP Law, Ryan Williams was accused of using a slur to characterise a Black person and making antisemitic remarks to Jewish coworkers.
At a party in an East Finchley pub, north London, in 2021, Williams is said to have told a Jewish colleague that ‘racism to Jews does not exist’, and said: ‘You’re all on top,’ the tribunal heard.
He was also accused of having repeatedly described his black opponent in a charity boxing match as a ‘tall, large n*‘, using the foul insult repeatedly, The Telegraph reports.
According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which filed the lawsuit against Williams, his actions became increasingly unpredictable during the evening, culminating in him hurling pizza across the pub garden.
By the end of the night, he was described as ‘incredibly drunk,’ and an Uber driver reportedly refused to pick him up.
He was reportedly incapable of standing up and, in his state of intoxication, urinated on his clothes.
Williams allegedly made previous antisemitic remarks to a Jewish coworker while working on a case related to a Jewish security charity.
The colleague claimed Williams said there was only security outside synagogues because Jewish people have lots of money.
At a Christmas party at the Dorchester Hotel, two months after the pub-garden party, he was accused of telling the same Jewish coworker that they only got their job due to their faith, and that Jewish people think they are above everyone else.
He was also said to have referenced another colleague’s ‘big Jew hands’.
At a bar after the party, the tribunal heard that Williams slapped a female colleague on the inner thigh, before touching her and another colleague on the bottom.
The SRA examined the accusations and referred the matter to the tribunal, accusing Williams of breaching bullying, harassment and discrimination rules.
Williams repudiated the claims, but stepped down from his £125,000-a-year partnership role at SBP Law, and is now a partner at corporate London firm Healys LLP.
He was hauled before the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal, which found all the charges proved and suspended him. It is understood he has been banned for 12 months, with a full judgment yet to be released.
He shouldn’t worry, though; he will probably be offered a position with our government – he would fit in rather nicely there, particularly with all his attributes.
There are some truly reputable solicitors, and then comes along one like this man, whose conduct gives the profession a bad name.
The wisest course of action would have been to abstain from drinking, particularly during work parties, so you wouldn’t be held accountable for any inadvertent or deliberate wrongdoing. Although in this day and age, you can still be blamed even without the alcohol.
Unfortunately, alcohol always exposes a person’s actual nature.
My recommendation, just don’t go to work parties, they are awful things anyhow. Keep your work and social life completely separate because you can’t choose your work colleagues, but you can choose your friends.
These events might take place in impressive establishments, but on the night, this is where HR are most alert and ravenous, and one should never give them the pleasure. The problem is, this is what happens at work parties. Some fool gets overexcited because maybe their home life is boring, and work is their only form of social life.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 