An immigration lawyer has earned his place in the pack of Dodgy Solicitors by pulling a sickie and defending a colleague's outrageously racist email.
Benny Thomas, senior partner of Consilium Chambers, began his campaign for an orange card in 2013 when he got his firm shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the middle of a High Court case. Thomas was found in contempt by Sir John Thomas, then President of the Queen's Bench Division and now the Lord Chief Justice (and no relation), for failing to appear before the High Court to answer questions about his conduct on three separate occasions.
When Thomas finally managed to make it in on the fourth try, the judges asked him why he shouldn't be sent straight to prison. Thomas replied that he'd had food poisoning, only he couldn't produce a doctor's note and claimed that he didn't know he could get one. Sir John called his excuse "feeble" and referred him to the SRA.
After closing down Consilium, the SRA discovered that Thomas had a habit of employing non-lawyers and claiming they were qualified. In one eye-opening incident, a non-lawyer employed by Consilium as a "barrister" emailed a client to say: "you truly are a Paki basturd (sic). You did not pay me fees and I was kind enough to pay your Court fee". When quizzed, Thomas claimed it was the "result of a misunderstood joke", the gag being that, "similar incidents have happened to [the non-lawyer] in the past and in all cases the client was Pakistani man (sic)". Ho ho, it's a good 'un.
In total the SDT upheld 13 of the 14 allegations against Thomas. It ruled that he was "not a credible witness" and was guilty of committing the "very highest level of offending behaviour" by lying under oath and being found guilty of contempt, and held that the only appropriate penalty was to strike him off.
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Benny Thomas, senior partner of Consilium Chambers, began his campaign for an orange card in 2013 when he got his firm shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the middle of a High Court case. Thomas was found in contempt by Sir John Thomas, then President of the Queen's Bench Division and now the Lord Chief Justice (and no relation), for failing to appear before the High Court to answer questions about his conduct on three separate occasions.
When Thomas finally managed to make it in on the fourth try, the judges asked him why he shouldn't be sent straight to prison. Thomas replied that he'd had food poisoning, only he couldn't produce a doctor's note and claimed that he didn't know he could get one. Sir John called his excuse "feeble" and referred him to the SRA.
After closing down Consilium, the SRA discovered that Thomas had a habit of employing non-lawyers and claiming they were qualified. In one eye-opening incident, a non-lawyer employed by Consilium as a "barrister" emailed a client to say: "you truly are a Paki basturd (sic). You did not pay me fees and I was kind enough to pay your Court fee". When quizzed, Thomas claimed it was the "result of a misunderstood joke", the gag being that, "similar incidents have happened to [the non-lawyer] in the past and in all cases the client was Pakistani man (sic)". Ho ho, it's a good 'un.
In total the SDT upheld 13 of the 14 allegations against Thomas. It ruled that he was "not a credible witness" and was guilty of committing the "very highest level of offending behaviour" by lying under oath and being found guilty of contempt, and held that the only appropriate penalty was to strike him off.
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