Barrister under investigation for gender critical tweets has allegations against her dropped

A nice little free speech victory to end the year with — Barrister Sarah Phillimore, who had been under investigation by the Bar Standards Board (which regulates barristers and specialised legal services businesses in England and Wales) for tweeting about her gender critical beliefs, has had the allegations against her dismissed.

Repeated and vexatious complaints have been made to the regulator because of Sarah’s perfectly lawful beliefs.

In March 2022 the Bar Standards Board upheld a complaint against her, despite the relevant tweets being clearly innocuous. However, with the assistance of the FSU, Sarah was able to instruct a leading discrimination lawyer to write to the Bar Standards Board. The letter worked, and the allegations have been dropped.

While Sarah ultimately secured a good outcome, we believe she should never have been put through such a process to begin with. The regulator’s willingness to indulge allegations that were transparently made in bad faith meant she had to endure a very stressful year.

The Bar Standards Board – and other regulators – must take into account professionals’ free speech rights from the outset, and not treat it as an after-thought to be considered on appeal. In doing so they will spare themselves, and people like Sarah, needless expense and anxiety.

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