SSDT Decision: Matthew Berlow

SCOTTISH SOLICITORS’ DISCPLINE TRIBUNAL

JLSS REPORT

LAW SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND-v-MATTHEW BERLOW

A Complaint was lodged by the Council of the Law Society of Scotland against Matthew Berlow, Solicitor, Glasgow. It was alleged that the Respondent may have been guilty of professional misconduct on four occasions by failing to maintain the standards of behaviour expected of a solicitor when he made comments on Facebook.

The Tribunal considered the proper approach was to consider each of the comments in an objective manner, as an ordinary, reasonable reader would, in the particular context in which they were made. Two comments were alleged to be racist. The Tribunal did not consider that the ordinary, objective reader would have reached the conclusion that, in the context in which they were made, the comments were racist. A third comment was alleged to be offensive and unprofessional. The Tribunal did not accept that the ordinary, objective reader, not sitting in an ivory tower, would take offence to the language used in the context it was used. A fourth comment was alleged to be incorrect and/or unprofessional. The Tribunal concluded that this comment  was an expression of opinion and the question for the Tribunal was whether or not the Respondent had a reasonable basis on which to make this comment. Given the whole context in which the comment was made, the Tribunal concluded that the Respondent had a reasonable basis on which to make it.

The Tribunal found the Respondent not guilty and declined to remit the Complaint in terms of section 53ZA of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980.