A veteran barrister has been slapped with a fine after putting on a German accent and allegedly performing a Nazi salute at the end of a trial.
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) said Thomas David Davidson had been attending a case in Salisbury Magistrates Court on February 7, 2022.
The regulator said the chairperson of the bench raised concerns about Davidson using a “German accent” at points during the trial.
A BSB report into the incident said the chairperson told Davidson, who is based in London, that his conduct during the proceedings had been “inappropriate”.
It says Davidson then turned to the bench and said “Jawohl”, German for “yes indeed”, a phrase associated with military activity in the European country.
The BSB says the barister then raised his arm to perform the Nazi salute, something it said was ” seriously offensive and discreditable”.
The report said: “Thomas Davidson, a practising barrister, behaved in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession, in that, on 7 February 2022 at Salisbury Magistrates Court, following the conclusion of a trial during which he had represented a defendant before a Bench consisting of three Lay Magistrates, and after the Chairperson raised with him the issue of his having used a German accent during the proceedings and telling him that this conduct had been inappropriate, Mr Davidson looked at the Bench and said “Jawohl” at the same time as raising a hand in a Nazi salute, which conduct was seriously offensive and discreditable.”
Davidson, who was called to the bar in 1973, was fined £250 and ordered to pay costs of £1,750 on November 21. The BSB said he is able to appeal the decision.
According to the barrister’s register, Davidson’s legal specialisms are crime, employment, family, immigration, intellectual property, residential landlord and tenant and personal injury.
