Former Russell McVeagh partner James Gardner-Hopkins was suspended from practising law for three years. Photos / Supplied
Former Russell McVeagh partner James Gardner-Hopkins was suspended from practising law for three years. Photos / Supplied
A former Russell McVeagh partner whose misconduct kick-started a #MeToo movement in New Zealand is seeking a new practising certificate after a three-year suspension.
James Gardner-Hopkins was found guilty of six misconduct charges by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal.
Five of the charges related to his behaviour with summer clerks at the “big three” law firm’s 2015 Christmas party in Wellington. The sixth was linked to another company function held at his home.
The high-profile incidents, reported in 2018, are considered the starting point of New Zealand’s #MeToo movement and were a catalyst for a wider reckoning in the country’s legal sector.
According to a notice on the New Zealand Law Society website, Gardner-Hopkins has reapplied for his certificate.
The notice said any comments concerning eligibility for a practising certificate should be made by March 20.
Former lawyer James Gardner-Hopkins served a three-year suspension following misconduct charges. Photo / Supplied
During the tribunal’s liability hearing in 2021, former summer clerks said Gardner-Hopkins touched them inappropriately, with one woman describing that she felt like a “piece of meat”.
“As one of them explained during the liability hearing, the fact that they were not safe from a partner, led to a feeling that they could not be safe anywhere in the workplace,” the tribunal’s decision read.
It found his conduct in all the charges relating to six separate incidents met the test of being regarded as “disgraceful or dishonourable”.
Gardner-Hopkins was censured and suspended for two years initially.
Gardner-Hopkins and the Law Society’s National Standards Committee cross-appealed the tribunal’s penalty ruling at the High Court.
The committee argued for Gardner-Hopkins to be struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors or suspended for at least three years, while Gardner-Hopkins sought a reduction of the existing penalty.
His cross-appeal was dismissed, while the standards committee’s appeal led to his two-year suspension being increased to three years. The committee’s argument that Gardner-Hopkins should be struck off was unsuccessful.
Gardner-Hopkins completed his three-year suspension as of February this year.
He is now legally allowed to apply for a new practising certificate through the New Zealand Law Society practice approval committee.
According to the society, there are several criteria involved in approving an application.
The applicant, for example, must be considered a “fit and proper person to hold a practising certificate”.
A society spokesperson told the Herald it was “unable to discuss individual applications for reasons of privacy and confidentiality”.
