High Court judge Mr Justice Marcus Smith has been reprimanded for sending a written letter to a junior member of staff where he stated he loved her.
According to a spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO), the Lady Chief Justice, Dame Sue Carr, issued the judge with a reprimand for serious misconduct.
Back in May, the JCIO received a complaint which alleged that Mr Justice Marcus Smith passed a handwritten letter to a junior member of staff, referring to a number of personal matters.
The letter also stated that he loved this member of staff and wanted to know if this was reciprocated.
It was noted by the JCIO that the contents of the letter caused the member of staff to feel “distressed, angry, let down and devalued”.
Mr Justice Smith. Picture credits: Judiciary
A long-term commercial and regulatory barrister, based in Fountain Court Chambers, Mr Justice Smith became a High Court judge in 2017.
However, he is well known for serving as president of the increasingly busy Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).
That complaint the JCIO received came with a summary document which described a series of prior events, including him sharing information about his relationship with his judicial leadership and asking the member of staff to go for walks with him.
The representation for the judge said he accepted that he had written and passed the letter to the member of staff. He also acknowledged that it was plainly inappropriate to do so and that it had caused significant emotional distress.
He went on to say that “on reflection, he realised that he had been ignoring warning signs about his workload and health. He had come to realise that the letter was a poorly framed attempt to reach out for support and to discuss his problems.”
He gave an assurance that there would be no repeat of such behaviour, and added he would take “immediate steps to address the underlying issues which he believed had led him to act as he did.”
Following an investigation, a senior nominated judge found that Mr Justice Marcus Smith actions amounted to serious misconduct.
The findings found that “by writing and giving the letter to the member of staff, he was clearly expressing his love for her and that he wanted to take things further.”
“He had abused his position and crossed lines which should not be crossed. It was unsurprising that the member of staff had been distressed. The impact on the member of staff was likely to be lasting,” the senior judge noted.
Mr Justice Marcus Smith was found to have “had shown little insight into why his actions were so wrong”, adding “he had not acknowledged the romantic aspects of the letter, focussing instead on his own circumstances and feelings.”
It was recommended that he faced a reprimand, the most serious sanction short of removal from office, which was agreed by The Lady Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor.
According to the JCIO’s discipline guidebook, once an office holder has a reprimand on file, any future findings of misconduct carry a significant possibility of removal.