Your author has a letter from the Bar Standards Board (BSB). The Witchfinder explains what it means and how readers can email the BSB to help.
The Bar Standards Board is risk assessing my complaint about Charlotte Proudman now. Help them to assess the risk she has damaged public confidence in the profession by emailing them!
As I explained in my previous article, Bar Standards Board rules state that, “You must not behave in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in you or in the profession [CD5]”. A legitimate question however, is how do you measure the risk of that harm?
Surely a good way to quantify the diminishment of trust and confidence is the volume of complaints?
Annoying Ms Proudman (@CRProudman) and her friend (@Jessica_Asato) on Twitter is futile. Emailing the BSB now whilst they are risk assessing may get results. The email is – AssessmentComplaints@BarStandardsBoard.org.uk. I have drafted a model email below with the reference numbers in the subject, feel free to use your own words for the body –
*******************************************************************************************
To – AssessmentComplaints@BarStandardsBoard.org.uk
Subject – Charlotte Proudman – PCPA 2015/0384 – Attn Rebecca Teague
Dear Madam,
I am writing to confirm I am deeply unimpressed by Charlotte Proudman. The news has been saturated with her conduct recently. I understand that she contacted a man named Alexander-Silk on a website called LinkedIn and received a compliment about her (clearly professionally taken) photograph.
Even if she had a legitimate complaint she has dealt with it wildly disproportionately. Some people have called it bullying. I simply say that it diminishes my respect for her and also for the legal profession as a whole.
Kind regards,
[You]
*******************************************************************************************
Thank you for the template. I have modified it so it is personal to me:
[start]
Please treat this e-mail as a formal complaint.
I am writing to confirm I am deeply disturbed by the activities of Charlotte Proudman, a barrister. You will be aware that recently news and social media has been saturated with her conduct concerning a message she received privately on a website called Linkedin.
She alleges that the message, from a fellow barrister named Alexander-Silk, appreciating her profile picture (which had obviously been professionally taken to show her features in the most aesthetic way possible) was inappropriate from someone in her profession. If she felt aggrieved she should have dealt with the issue by replying privately stating her objection and then pursuing the matter through the standards procedures available to all barristers. She chose not to, instead responding publicly pasting the original message and her response in various social media.
In my view, by her public actions she has dealt with the issue disproportionately in the extreme. I have read, and find it difficult to disagree, that some people have called it bullying. For me, personally, I can only say that it has diminished my respect for the legal profession she represents, as well as her in particular, and is not the sort of behaviour I would expect of someone called to the bar.
Yours truly,
Name and Address
[end]
Whilst her bullying behaviour ought to be unacceptable to anyone in the legal profession, what I find far more troubling is that she is working in family law and states that she is fighting for feminism, not equality*. If she represents a divorced father in what is already believed to be a biased system, will she advise him based on what is best for him and his children, or will she seek remedy for perceived historic injustices by other people of his sex?
* source: “The Feminazi vs the Leering Lawyer: What female barrister who objected to Linkedin compliment said as SHE ogled men on the web” (Daily Mail)
Jokes on you m8. I sent them an email linking to this blog post and giving them contextual information about how Gamergate mailing campaigns work. #rekt
Not at all. The complaint itself was completely upfront, drew their attention to this blog and the fact that I had encouraged readers to share their thoughts, and the allegations made stand or fall on their own message.
As it happens, I already told the BSB about this blog and that readers would be encouraged to write in. I wrote the following on the complaint form, “[…]I write the blog http://www.MatthewHopkinsNews.com and I have invited my readers to email the Bar Standards Board expressing their reduced confidence in Ms Proudman[…]”
My point being that the large number of people motivated to write in proves that she has adversely impacted public confidence. Accordingly, your point that I am encouraging people to write in, or that there is an organised campaign is –
a. admitted
b. helps our case
Many thanks for your time.
Dang…
well this is awkward…
I assumed you hadn’t mentioned your blog, as you failed to mention this in your post and your template letter makes no mention of the blog. It seemed like the old “don’t mention Gamergate when emailing advertisers” strategy, but good on you for doing the right thing.
Have I #selfrekt myself?
I still think I gave some contextual information on online mailing campaigns that could have been useful.
Oh well.