Claire O’Connor SC’s stance against sex abuse was not ‘unprofessional’ court rules, overturning finding of legal conduct tribunal
Top Adelaide barrister Claire O’Connor SC – who spoke out against sexism and harassment in the profession – has been vindicated after a six-year battle.
SA News
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A top barrister who spoke out on social media against sexual harassment and assault within the profession has been cleared of “unsatisfactory conduct” following an appeal.
The Legal Professional Conduct Tribunal has found barrister Claire O’Connor did not bring her profession “into disrepute” by revealing she had been sexually harassed or bullied by an unnamed judge.
It has also overturned findings, made six years ago, that she acted unprofessionally by asserting the industry overvalues parentage, gender, skin colour and sexual preference.
Ms O’Connor has welcomed the findings, telling her social media followers “it is important for women to be able to speak up”.
“It is extraordinary for me to think that saying I had been sexually abused by someone who was then sitting on the District Court was bringing the profession into disrepute,” she wrote.
“But this was 2016 … since then many women have spoken out against lawyers and judges in Australia – even a Judge of the High Court.
“It is the conduct which brings the profession into disrepute, surely – not the talking about it?”
In October 2016, Ms O’Connor’s claims – posted on Facebook – went viral and split the state’s lawyers over questions of gender equity and the need for and manner of change.
The post followed Ms O’Connor’s unsuccessful bid for presidency of the Law Society of SA.
Ms O’Connor was asked, by Supreme Court Chief Justice Chris Kourakis, if she wanted her complaint about the judge investigated, but she explained it had been dealt with previously.
Subsquently, Legal Profession Conduct Commissioner Greg May reprimanded Ms O’Connor for her social media post and ordered she apologise.
She did so while also appealing against his determination, saying she regretted using social media but maintained the need “to bring about change”.
April 2021, an Equal Opportunity Commission report found sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation went all the way to the top of the profession, including judicial officers.
Ms O’Connor, meanwhile, fought off attempts by an unnamed male peer to re-open the case against her through an anonymous complaint.
In its decision, the tribunal says Ms O’Connor’s original Facebook post “did not bring the profession into disrepute”, nor “diminish public confidence” in the justice system.
However, it also says the post contained “two serious allegations that are factually wrong”, including a “scandalous” assertion the Law Society of SA sought to influence its own presidential election.
A comment regarding “familial relations lending an advantage to the appointment” of QCs and SCs was “at least partially accurate” but “gave rise to false and denigrating imputations”.
“These are very serious allegations... I find that Ms O’Connor had no basis whatsoever to make those comments... she should not have done so,” it wrote.
“I do not doubt the genuineness of Ms O’Connor’s beliefs underlying the publication of the Facebook post... she considers herself a firebrand for reform in the profession.
“But that cannot be a licence to make the above-described baseless allegations.
“Whatever the perceived righteousness of the cause, Ms O’Connor’s first duty as a practitioner must be to the truth.”
In her new social media post, Ms O’Connor thanked her legal team and the many lawyers who had supported her throughout the case.
“As many young women have said to me since I was first challenged – and it hit the front page of The Advertiser at the time – ‘if you can’t speak, how can we?’,” she wrote.
“By the way, the judgment is not a vindication of my views – which I still hold.
“But it is a vindication of my view that we are entitled to say such things.”
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