Crime barrister slapped with £2,000 fine for dropping big ‘N-word’ bomb

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By Jonathan Ames on

Matthew Lawson’s profile no longer on Carmelite Chambers website after calling woman a “nigger bitch”

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A criminal law senior junior barrister has been hit with a £2,000 fine after he called a woman a “nigger bitch”.

A short bar disciplinary finding published late last week found that Matthew Lawson — who was called by Gray’s Inn in November 1995 — had brought the profession into disrepute.

Lawson, who is listed on his LinkedIn profile as practising at Carmelite Chambers in London’s Temple (pictured), was found not only to have dropped the “N-word” bomb, but also to have made racist references to his own client’s father.

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A five-person tribunal found that Lawson referred to that person as being “as black as the ace of spades”.

The finding provides no background detail to the two-year-old incident, such as where and in what context the remarks were made.

Lawson was also slapped with an official reprimand in addition to the fine. His details are no longer on the chambers’ website.

According to Lawson’s LinkedIn profile, before being called to the bar, he spent a year in equity sales at leading London-based private banking and wealth management business Kleinwort Benson.

The disciplinary tribunal ruling comes amid a welter of negative publicity around diversity at the bar. Last week, a Bar Council report detailed incidents of egregious and rampant sexual harassment across the profession.

Neither Lawson nor Carmelite Chambers responded to requests for comment.