Two female lawyers have told the Legal Practice Council (LPC) how a prominent Cape Town lawyer inappropriately touched and/or made sexually loaded comments to them between 2012 and 2018.

The male litigator, who resigned from a top firm in 2018 after being accused of sexual harassment, faced an LPC disciplinary inquiry yesterday.

As previously reported, LPC inquiries are normally open to the public, but the panel ruled that it should be held in secret. His name will be released only if he is found guilty.

Attorney Leigh Lambrechts, one of the women accusing a prominent Cape Town lawyer of sexual harassment, has agreed to be named.

‘I’m hoping I can close the box and move on and know that I’ve done my part in trying to expose something that I think is predatory behaviour that needs to be addressed,’ she told News24 yesterday.

Lambrechts has confirmed she was not consulted when the accused applied for the hearing to be closed to the public and only found out about that decision a week before she was due to testify yesterday.

As a result of that decision, she could not be supported by friends or family when she gave evidence but was able to be accompanied by her own lawyer.

‘I was surprised that they would give an in-camera ruling without discussing it with the complainant because it already re-victimises you because you’re alone again with him in a room without your support,’ she said.

News24 reports that Lambrechts said that while she respected the fact that some of the other witnesses who will testify against the lawyer did not want to be identified, she said this legitimate apprehension could have been addressed differently.

I thought that, at the very least, I would be given the opportunity to submit some kind of statement about why it shouldn’t be held in camera or how they could potentially find a way to address witness concerns. 

‘If they had asked, I would have told them that it doesn’t have to be in-camera when I’m giving evidence,’ she said.

Alison Tilley from Judges Matter told News24 that it is troubling that the LPC panel had made its decision to hold its investigation in secret without hearing directly from his accusers.

‘That is at odds with the audi alteram principle, a basic principle of fairness,’ she said.

The LPC panel’s decision to hold the council’s first sexual harassment inquiry in secret – without seeking any input from the lawyer’s accusers – was also at odds with the transparent attitude shown by the JSC, which has broadcast the sexual harassment inquiry into Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge.

Tilley said section 38(4)(a) of the Legal Practice Act was ‘remarkable in that it sets, as a default position, that all disciplinary hearings against lawyers are open to the public, unless the chairperson of the disciplinary committee decides otherwise on good cause shown’.

Full News24 report