PRINCE Harry’s lawyer was given a furious dressing-down by a High Court judge today – after breaching strict privacy rules.
Shaheed Fatima QC was monstered in open court by Mr Justice Swift after handing an embargoed legal document to a PR strategist.
The court heard she emailed the papers, strictly for lawyers’ eyes only, to “reputation specialist” Tim Robinson – a partner at privacy-loving law firm Schillings.
To make matters worse, Ms Fatima only admitted to the breach on Wednesday – nearly a week after she leaked the draft judgment – and repeatedly failed to apologise.
She initially tried to claim that Schillings, which is representing Harry in a claim against the Home Office, did not believe there had been a breach.
But red-faced Mr Justice Swift raged: “Let me disabuse of that straight away. What you’re saying isn’t making anything better.
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“The rules are very clear and should be obvious to anyone practising in this court. This embargo is in standard form, what it says is what it means.
“Mr Robinson is not a solicitor, he’s not qualified as a matter of law to provide legal services or advice. It should have been obvious that this was a breach and it should have been reported to me as soon as possible.
“This is entirely unacceptable. You haven’t even offered an apology.
“Nothing you’ve said this morning approaches an apology for this clear breach of the embargo.
“You must take responsibility when things go wrong. Not everything that happens is someone else’s fault.”
Sheepish Ms Fatima reluctantly said she took full responsibility and said she would have done things differently “with the benefit of hindsight, out of an abundance of caution”.
But she still failed to say sorry.
The fuming judge ranted: “It’s not for me to require you to apologise, it should be a matter for your professional conscience.”
The lawyer replied: “My lord, I am very sorry for the fact I did not think fully before those emails were sent, and that I did not contact the court sooner.”
Refusing to let it drop, the judge asked if she accepted there had been a breach of the court’s rules, which she did – but only “in light of what your lordship has found”.
He huffed: “This isn’t doing you any good, it’s certainly not doing me any good, and your words are not very well chosen.”
The papers in question were a draft judgment in Prince Harry’s case against the Home Office.
He wants to have access to Met Police protection when he is in the UK, but the Home Office has refused to provide it – even if he pays.
The judgment should not have been given to anyone other than Harry’s direct layers, but they were handed to Schillings’ partner Tim Robinson.
On its website, Mr Robinson is described as a former major general in the British Army who helps “protect clients’ reputations and privacy from a wide range of threats”.
It adds: “He is an experienced and talented problem solver and proven battlefield leader.
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“With expertise as both a strategist and tactician, Tim works with clients to put out reputational fires and prevent them in the first place.”
The case continues.
