Charlotte Proudman

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

Dr Charlotte Proudman, a barrister, faced five charges of professional misconduct arising from a 14-part Twitter thread posted on 6 April 2022 commenting on a judgment by Sir Jonathan Cohen in a matrimonial case in which she had been junior counsel for the wife. Charges 1-3 alleged the tweets were misleading and inaccurately reflected the judge's findings (lack of integrity/diminishing public trust); Charges 4-5 alleged the tweets were without sound factual basis and contained seriously offensive, derogatory language designed to demean the judge. The Tribunal (HH Nicholas Ainley, Chairman) found that any factual inaccuracies in the tweets were minor and not sufficient to found a charge of lack of integrity, so Charges 1-3 were not made out. Applying Article 10 ECHR and Morice v France, the Tribunal found the tweets were robustly expressed value judgments on a matter of public interest (domestic abuse) which a rational conscientious lawyer was entitled to express, and were not gravely damaging or essentially unfounded attacks on the judiciary. All five charges were dismissed on 14 March 2025. Dr Proudman's subsequent application for costs (~£352,017, including pro bono costs) was refused on 10 July 2025, the Tribunal finding no 'good reason' to award costs as the BSB's decision to prosecute was not fundamentally misconceived, and the malicious prosecution allegations had not been litigated with evidence.