The Solicitors Regulation Authority has taken action against a former senior client development manager at Eversheds Sutherland after he admitted touching a female employee without her consent.
Jake Flint, who was employed by Eversheds between May 2021 and August 2022, will no longer be able to work for a legal practice without the SRA’s prior approval.
In a decision published Tuesday, the SRA said it had reached its verdict as a result of Flint’s actions at an Eversheds work event which took place on July 12 last year.
The SRA wrote that Flint “persisted in a course of conduct towards a female employee of the firm without her consent, adding: “He grabbed her breast on three occasions, touched her bottom and touched her upper thigh while asking if they were eating food in his room or hers.”
According to the decision, the event in question was a business development and marketing department away day, organised by the firm. Employees from the firm’s offices attended the event which involved “socialising by the staff and an overnight stay at a hotel”.
The SRA said that, after the event, when walking to the hotel with a group of colleagues, Flint touched and grabbed the breast of one of his colleagues without her consent, and that, on each occasion, his colleague told him that she did not want him to do so and asked him to stop.
The regulator added: “Once at the hotel, Mr Flint put his arm around his colleague’s waist and touched her bottom. She again told him to stop. Another colleague intervened and spoke to Mr Flint about his conduct.”
Explaining its decision to prohibit any legal employment without approval, the SRA wrote: “This was because of the serious nature of his conduct in repeatedly touching his colleague in a sexual way without her consent and in making a comment to her of a sexual nature.”
As well as the employment sanction, Flint has been ordered to pay the SRA’s costs of £600.
Eversheds Sutherland declined to comment on the SRA’s decision. Flint did not respond to a request for comment.
