Past disciplinary findings

Simon Hamilton on or before the 30th July 2003 engaged in conduct which was discreditable to a barrister and likely to bring the legal profession into disrepute, contrary to paragraph 301(a) of the Code of Conduct (7th Edition), in that, on various dates, he committed:

i. 5 offences of making an indecent photograph of a child contrary to section 1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978;

ii. 2 offences of possession of an indecent photograph of a child contrary to section 1(1)(c) of the Protection of Children Act 1978;

iii. 1 offence of taking an indecent photograph of a child contrary to section 1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978;

iv. 4 offences of committing an act outraging public decency, contrary to common law;

such that on the 27th April 2006 he was convicted of those offences in respect of which he received a sentence of 3 years? imprisonment.

Simon Hamilton failed to respond promptly or at all to requests from the Bar Standards Board for comments or information on a complaint, in that he failed to respond to e-mails sent to him by the Bar Standards Board on 18 March, 21 April and 14 May 2008, and a letter dated 3 September 2008 sent by post and email, contrary to paragraph 905(d) of the Code of Conduct, such failure being serious due the extent of the failure to respond to the repeated requests for his comments and its combination with a failure to comply with another provision the Code (that being the failure which is the subject of Charge 1).