Richard Ashley Smith

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Richard Smith, an equity partner at a City law firm (admitted 1989), pursued a course of conduct between December 2017 and November 2019 towards Person A, a junior colleague, which he knew or ought to have known was unwanted and inappropriate. This included covertly taking over 90 digital images/videos of her (including photographs of her legs taken from under a desk and an incident on a train where he was accused of 'upskirting' and arrested by British Transport Police), sending more than 1,000 WhatsApp and thousands of Skype messages (largely unreciprocated), repeatedly inviting her to dine with him, and giving inappropriate gifts. After being granted police bail with a condition of no contact with Person A, he left a handwritten note in her desk drawer. He admitted the allegation including that conduct 1.1.1–1.1.4 was sexually motivated. The Tribunal found the allegation proved and that his conduct lacked integrity and breached Principles 2 and 6 and Outcomes 2.1 and 11.1. The judgment records the finding of sexual motivation but did NOT make an express finding of dishonesty. Detailed sanction and costs are contained in separate appended/hyperlinked documents not reproduced here.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• No taking unfair advantage
• No unlawful discrimination or harassment
• Uphold public trust in the profession