A disciplinary hearing at the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service has reprimanded and fined Mr Feliks Kwiatkowski, 66, for breaching Core Duty 5 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook. Mr Kwiatkowski acted in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in a barrister or in the profession. On 25 November 2019 at Worthing County Court during discussions with opposing counsel, Mr Kwiatkowski made comments which were inappropriate and offensive.
He described the witness statement, drafted and signed by a female Chartered Legal Executive who had instructed the opposing barrister as that of a ‘hysterical woman’ or words to that effect. He then stated that this ‘was just fact’. He went on to say ‘I have been practising since before this century. When more women joined the profession, the ground shifted. You do get stupid and unreasonable men in the profession, but the ground shifted – the number of incidents of overegging the pudding and just going overboard in a routine situation multiplied’.
When the opposing barrister sought clarification from Mr Kwiatkowski whether he was referring to women as being ‘intemperate’ he said ‘yes, that was the word, intemperate’.
The female barrister complained about what he had said to her to the Bar Standards Board. She said: ‘I met Mr Kwiatkowski when he arrived at court at 10am… we initially discussed the case for around five to ten minutes. I made reference in the course of those discussions to my (female) instructing solicitor’s witness statement. He then described the statement as that of a “hysterical woman”.
‘I said that he was free to make criticism of the tone of the statement but said that I felt when someone uses the phrase “hysterical woman” to describe a legal professional they are in rather unpleasant territory.
‘I told him I was making a note of his comments – which I was – and that I found them sexist and inappropriate. She moved away from Mr Kwiatkowski and sat next to another barrister because she found the experience ‘unpleasant’ and she ‘felt shaken’.
Jonathan Glasson QC, chairman of the tribunal, ruled Mr Kwiatkowski’s actions were ‘seriously reprehensible’ and ‘grave’, amounting to professional misconduct.
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