Past disciplinary findings

Jacqueline Vallejo, a barrister, between 3 February 2016 and 8 March 2016 whilst acting as counsel for the defence in proceedings at Snaresbook Crown Court failed to observe her duty to the court in the administration of justice in that she behaved in a rude and unprofessional manner by acting as set out in the attached schedule and/or saying words or words to the same effect as those set out in the attached schedule.

1. On or about 3 February 2016:
a. refused to engage with prosecution counsel in relation to attempting to agree a schedule;
b. on being ordered by the judge to engage with prosecution counsel in relation to the schedule, replied she would not comply with that order;
c. said to the judge “if your Honour wants to do anything about me and my conduct that’s fine…Not a problem at all….so if your Honour wants to report me then so be it…I’d rather you do it sooner rather than later though”;
d. When the judge stated that she (the judge) was not going to delay or distract from the trial, replied “…well that’s’ exactly what your Honour is doing.”
e. in submissions to the judge said “don’t try to make me sound like an idiot”; and
f. when asked to sit down by the judge, replied “is that the fifth time your Honour has asked me to sit down?” and then “I was going to sit down, I didn’t need your honour to tell me…”.

2. On or about 12 February 2016:
a. when the judge sought clarification about a witness’s evidence, stated (in front of the jury) “Well if your Honour wants to conduct the cross-examination I’ll sit down”;
b. when the judge invited her to continue with cross examination, stated (in front of the jury) “No your Honour, your Honour can continue if you like”; and
c. criticised the judge (in front of the jury) by stating “When Mr Brown gave evidence yesterday, he gave evidence in relation to hearsay and your Honour of course didn’t stop him, and of course there’s been no hearsay application from the Crown…”

3. On or about 16 February 2016:
a. adopted an abrupt, disrespectful and unhelpful tone, attitude and approach towards the judge;
b. was unduly argumentative with the judge;
c. when asked by the judge to clarify the issues in relation to certain evidence, replied “I’ve explained it already” and then that she was accepting the “whole of the prosecution case…because I’m being forced to by the Learned Judge”; and
d. During an interaction with the judge in relation to the provision of a Defence Statement stated “…I cannot force my client to provide a defence statement. What part of that does your honour not understand?”

4. On or about 8 March 2016:
a. adopted an abrupt, disrespectful and unhelpful tone, attitude and approach towards the judge;
b. was unduly argumentative with the judge;
c. talked over and/or interrupted the judge;
d. when the judge summarised evidence that had been given by a witness, stated (in front of the jury) that it was “absolute rubbish”; and
e. said to the judge (in front of the jury) “is your Honour giving evidence?”