Male lawyer asked to leave prestigious SA law chambers over female lawyer’s allegations of unwanted sexual contact

Another of SA’s lawyers has been accused of inappropriate and unwanted sexual contact with a female peer inside a prestigious chambers.

A well-known Adelaide lawyer has been evicted from one of the state’s most prestigious chambers over allegations of unwanted and inappropriate sexual contact with another, female lawyer.

The Advertiser can reveal the practitioner was asked to leave chambers earlier this year.

That request was made after a female lawyer, based at another, separate chambers, made a complaint against him alleging unwanted and inappropriate sexual contact.

State law prohibits The Advertiser from naming either practitioner, and also from identifying the two chambers connected to the alleged incident.

The male lawyer has not been charged with any criminal offence, and SA Police have confirmed that no formal complaint has yet been filed over the alleged incident.

It is understood the female lawyer this week informed her chamber colleagues, by way of email, of the allegations and put them on notice of her concerns.

She has been the recipient of support and advice from senior practitioners, both male and female, from across the industry since the allegations were disclosed.

It is further understood the male lawyer has been conducting his business from a spare room in his suburban home since his eviction from chambers.

An SA lawyer has been asked to leave a CBD chambers over allegations of unwanted and inappropriate sexual contact. Picture: Generic image.

The alleged incident of unwanted and inappropriate sexual contact is said to have occurred earlier this year.

It became a talking point among Adelaide’s tight-knit legal profession this week, following both the female lawyer’s letter to her colleagues and publicity over the unrelated misconduct case against Enzo Belperio.

Mr Belperio, of Bar Chambers, has denied allegations of professional misconduct arising from alleged unwanted and inappropriate sexual contact with a junior female lawyer in 2020.

One senior legal source described conversation about the new allegations, within the profession, as “a whirlwind”, with “very few details known”.

Both the new allegations and Mr Belperio’s misconduct hearing come in the wake of several damning reports about unrelated incidents of harassment, intimidation, bullying and sexual misconduct within SA’s legal profession.

In April 2021, an Equal Opportunity Commission report found “appalling” behaviours went “all the way to the top” of the profession.

That led to Magistrate Simon Milazzo being fired by parliament after a tabled report found he had engaged in inappropriate conduct with sexual connotations relating to four women over a number of years.

In January this year, the Commission found judges perpetrate more than 20 per cent of reported harassment and bullying, and called for an overhaul of the judicial selection process.