Transgender UK cricketer Maxine Blythin was named Kent's Woman Player of the Year in 2019. Her success was discussed in emails between two lawyers about transgender sportspeople. Photo / Getty Images
Transgender UK cricketer Maxine Blythin was named Kent's Woman Player of the Year in 2019. Her success was discussed in emails between two lawyers about transgender sportspeople. Photo / Getty Images
Two lawyers accused of making "extremely discriminatory" comments about transgender sportspeople in an email exchange have taken the committee who investigated them to court.
Lawyers Giles Brant and Peter Hardie claim the investigation, which was dropped in July 2020, should never have happened, and that the emails were sent in a personal capacity despite the use of professional email addresses.
They say their freedom of expression was under the microscope, and the sealed decision to drop the investigation would be a valuable resource in educating lawyers.
An anonymous complaint was made to the New Zealand Law Society about the lawyers in December 2019, and the complaint was referred to the National Standards Committee for investigation.
The investigation centred around comments made by the two men while organising a social cricket game where they discussed their views on UK cricketer Maxine Blythin, a transgender woman, winning an award.
They allegedly said Blythin was a "six-foot male in a female league". These, and other comments, were deemed discriminatory to transgender people by the committee at the time.
Though they recounted what was said in the emails, both men refused to disclose the original messages to the committee and so the verbatim content of the exchange is still unknown.
What was known, however, was that the emails included discussions about transgender women, referred to by the men's lawyer Michael Fisher as "biologically men", playing sports in a league with "biological women".
In the email alleging the misconduct, the complainant said the comments made were "distastefully sarcastic" and "extremely discriminatory", and the conversation was unbecoming of lawyers.
A meeting was called by the committee in February 2020, another in May and eventually, due to insufficient evidence and both men refusing to disclose the emails, the investigation was dropped in July that year.
The men took the matter to the High Court at Wellington this week, arguing the sealed decision should be made public.
Lawyers Giles Brant and John Hardie came under investigation in 2020 when an anonymous report was made over alleged discriminatory comments about transgender sportspeople. Photo / File
Fisher represented both men in court and said the investigation should never have been launched and the committee was outside their jurisdiction.
He argued his clients were exercising their right to free speech through emails sent when they were off the clock and not in a professional capacity.
Both men believe the decision would be a good learning tool for their profession.
Fisher said they were arguing for transparency in the process, and how a decision was reached by a committee.
Lawyer Paul Collins, representing the committee, said it was well within its rights to investigate the complaint and the committee would have failed in its duty if it had not referred the matter for investigation.
Collins argued the true motivation for the decision to be published wasn't in fact for education but to push the two men's own ideological perspectives.
Collins said a lengthy response from Hardie when the men were made aware of the complaint contained religious beliefs and comments on the merits of transgender sportspeople.
