A former BNP Paribas attorney has been ordered to pay PS31,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority after he admitted calling his colleagues names such as Pol Pot and Jabba the Hutt.
After admitting that he used “inappropriate language” in the office, Benedict Foster, a senior lawyer at BNP Paribas in London, was fined PS15,000 and ordered to pay PS16,000 more in costs by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
A colleague reported his use of nicknames like “Mad Paul”, the “Twittering Fool”, and “Hu She” to describe an east Asian co-worker or “Biriyani”, for an Indian colleague, during a exit interview.
The City lawyer admitted in his submissions to Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that he used the names of colleagues while working as the head of legal for the French bank’s debt and equity Capital Markets division between December 2020 – September 2021.
BNP Paribas conducted an internal investigation after the exit interview, and reported the findings to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in March 2022. In the same month, it negotiated a Foster’s exit.
Foster acknowledged in his submissions before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that he had used the “unprofessional names” without the knowledge of his colleagues and that they would be likely to offend them, even if his coworkers shared his sense of humour.
He denied that “Mad Paul”, his colleague’s nickname, had undermined his credentials as a lawyer. He said that his use of this “offensive name” was in reference to “his slightly cavalier attitude to timekeeping, his attendance at work and his interpersonal skills”.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that Foster failed to meet the standards expected from solicitors. He also failed to act with integrity and in a manner which “encourages equity, diversity and inclusion” when he used offensive names to describe his colleagues.
Foster’s lawyer said at his hearing last week: “Through [me], [he] wishes unreservedly to apologize.”
He said that he had “never intended to offend anyone or hurt anyone”, and that he never “had any racist intention whatsoever”.
Subscribe to our weekly HR news and guidance
Every Wednesday, receive the Personnel Today Direct newsletter.
