‘Brain snap’: Barristers admit to putting homophobic notices in work lifts

Two veteran Victorian barristers have pleaded guilty to professional misconduct for posting homophobic notices in the lifts of a leading Melbourne law office after initially playing down the seriousness of the incident.

Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal vice president Caitlin English ruled that two veteran barristers must each donate $5000 to Fitroy Legal Service after pleading guilty to professional misconduct.

Two veteran Victorian barristers have pleaded guilty to professional misconduct in relation to homophobic notices displayed in the lifts of a leading Melbourne law office.

The Victorian Legal Services Commission (VLSC) has found John Perry and Robert Squirrell engaged in conduct discreditable to a barrister and reprimanded them following a court hearing on April 1.

After forty years of unblemished careers, they have been ordered to each donate $5000 to Fitzroy Legal Service and undertake professional development, Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal vice president Caitlin English ruled. Costs of about $2000 were also awarded against them.

The judge noted the incident “has the hallmarks of a university ‘prank’ were it not for the age of the protagonists and the offensive nature of the notice”.

Both men were admitted to legal practice in 1979, and neither has been the subject of disciplinary conduct proceedings in the past.

John F Perry. Picture: Lennonlist.com.au

Although they have been working for more than four decades as lawyers or barristers, both men said the $5000 charity donation was a “substantial penalty” for them.

Mr Squirrell put his actions down to a “brain snap” and said: “People are going to look at me strangely I’m sure”.

“I will be (remembered) for this, and rightly so,” he said in a hearing last month.

Mr Perry, who is now receiving the aged pension “supplemented by occasional paying briefs”, said he was not homophobic. He is a lay Deacon at St Agnes Anglican Church in Glenhuntly.

Judge English found in August 2022, Mr Perry sent Mr Squirrell a notice that read “ESTABLISHMENT OF LGBTQMS REVIEW COMMITTEE”, calling those who are not “white, male heterosexuals” to be part of the group.

Robert G Squirrell. Picture: Vicbar.com

The notice, on mock Victorian Bar letterhead, said that MS “refers to mud screwers” because “some guys would screw mud”. It also suggests that LGBTQI barristers disproportionately receive work from large private and government litigators.

Mr Squirrell then printed four copies of the notice and on August 10 put a copy in each of the four lifts at Owen Dixon Chambers East, where they were seen by barristers and members of the public.

Both men initially played down the seriousness of the issue when first questioned about it by the VLSC in late 2022, saying it was a send-up of political correctness, not an intention to cause offence.

Mr Perry initially suggested his email system had been hacked while Mr Squirrell questioned the allegedly unlawful access by investigators to Mr Perry’s emails.

However, both men eventually agreed to a charge of professional misconduct, charity payment and reprimand. Mr Perry was charged with creating a “demeaning, humiliating, and/or offensive and discriminatory notice” which he sent to Mr Squirrell with the subject line including the words “this is going in the lifts tomorrow”.

Both said their legal practices had been affected by Covid.

Mr Squirrell was charged with professional misconduct for placing the notice in the lifts.

Judge English concluded that “the suggestion that sexual deviancy attaches to the LGBTQI community in the present day is offensive, both legally and socially” and was designed to be attributed to the Victorian Bar due to the inclusion of the logo.

She also found that the suggestion that LGBTQI barristers are receiving briefs they don’t deserve is also “objectively offensive”.

Originally published as ‘Brain snap’: Barristers admit to putting homophobic notices in work lifts