A senior legal executive who joked that a raffle winner could “take the virginity” of a junior female colleague, and was found to have trapped a wheelchair user against her will on a dancefloor, has been banned from the legal profession following a disciplinary tribunal.
Darren Shaw, a chartered legal executive at personal injury firm Keller Postman, made the comments during the firm’s annual conference in Manchester in 2022, after a “Virgin Experience Day” was announced as a raffle prize. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard he joked “loudly” that a junior colleague was a “virgin” and that whoever won the prize would therefore be taking her virginity, later repeating the remark by saying: “I didn’t realise you could spend a night with [the woman]!”
After dinner at the event, Shaw was found to have danced with multiple women, “some of whom appeared uncomfortable and tried to pull away.” One colleague, who uses a wheelchair, told the tribunal that Shaw approached her uninvited, took her hands and attempted to move her onto the dancefloor, manoeuvring her wheelchair onto a sloped edge and positioning his hands on either side of her so she could not move away. When she repeatedly told him she did not want to dance, the tribunal heard he responded: “Oh stop, you’re teasing me.”
Other colleagues described similarly unwanted attention. One said Shaw adjusted her hat to expose more of her face, telling her: “You should wear it like this. You’ve got a great face. You’ve got a great name. Are those your eyes?” Another said he appeared “uninvited and out of nowhere,” leaned close to her ear and asked: “Do you want to come to the bar alone with me?”
The evening continued at a Manchester bar, where around ten to fifteen attendees, including Shaw, went on after the conference ended at around midnight. There, Shaw is reported to have told one woman: “Has anyone ever told you you’re beautiful, gorgeous, really attractive?” He put his arm around another colleague, telling her she “smelled like coconuts,” that she was “too pretty to be single,” and that she had “really nice eyes,” adding: “Oh, what I’d do to you with those eyes.”
Women who later complained said they felt “shocked,” “uncomfortable” and “violated” at the time, but did not feel able to challenge Shaw’s behaviour given his seniority. The tribunal found that the “power imbalance made it more difficult for junior colleagues to challenge his behaviour at the time,” and concluded that his conduct “was in some respects sexually motivated.”
Following the complaints, Keller Postman issued Shaw a final written warning, barred him from drinking at work events, prohibited him from attending offices or events outside Manchester without written approval, and banned him from being alone with female staff outside his main office. The firm later self-referred the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and commissioned an independent investigation. A spokesperson said: “When concerns were first raised, we instructed an independent external law firm to conduct a thorough investigation, and we self-referred the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in accordance with our regulatory obligations. We fully accept the decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal concerning a former member of our firm.”
The tribunal found all the allegations against Shaw proven, concluding his conduct was “wholly inconsistent” with the standards expected of someone in legal practice and had damaged the reputation of the profession. It noted Shaw had not engaged with the proceedings or disputed the factual allegations, and had shown no meaningful remorse, concluding there was a risk he could behave in the same way again. He has been banned from working for any regulated law firm without prior consent from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and ordered to pay costs of £20,600.
In an email to the tribunal, Shaw said: “I never set out to cause harm or distress to anyone, it is not in my DNA, never has been or will. I tried everything I could to make the Manchester office summit a success, almost single handedly managing circa 100 people at an event.” He claimed there had been “a corral of people in the Birmingham office encouraging each other to make wild assertions without evidence” and said he had been “ambushed” during the firm’s investigation process. His LinkedIn profile states he is currently open to work and “seeking a new challenge outside of law.”
