Relations had ‘soured’ between the two lawyers who pursued serious allegations against the British Army in Iraq, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard today.
Leigh Day senior partner Martyn Day had sought to patch up relations with Public Interest Lawyers director Phil Shiner in 2006, two years before they conducted a joint press conference alleging their Iraqi clients had been mistreated by British soldiers, the tribunal heard.
In the first day of his oral evidence to the tribunal, Day said Shiner was ‘difficult’ but he never doubted his contemporary’s ability as a lawyer. ‘He [Shiner] was never an easy man and would take offence at the slightest of things,’ said Day.
Day admitted he acceded to a request from the BBC documentary team at Panorama not to disclose certain material to Shiner over concerns it would be leaked.
Cross-examining Day, Timothy Dutton QC, representing the Solicitors Regulation Authority, said that despite these misgivings Day was keen to ‘get in on’ Shiner’s cases involving Iraqi civilians and paid £20,000 up-front to cover initial outgoings.
The tribunal heard that Day and Shiner appeared together at a press conference in February 2008, but two months later Day was seeking contemporaneous evidence collected in London from battles in Iraq which the solicitor said would be key to proving or disproving the case. Dutton said this evidence should have been sought before any public allegations were made.
Dutton suggested that the way Day had gone had ahead with the press conference – in which he accused the British government of a cover-up to shield the torture and unlawful killing of detainees, was ‘premature’ and he had ‘lost sight’ of his professional obligations.
He added: ‘The risk you took at the press conference was to see an agenda as being to get the issue of what happened at [the Battle of] Danny Doy and its aftermath into the world’s media because that was the best strategy.’
Day said he did not cross-reference solicitor rules with everything he did in the lead-up to giving the press conference, but he insisted they were ‘engrained’ in him through 40 years of experience in the profession.
The solicitor said he stood by the allegations made during the press conference, which turned out to be false, as the evidence from Iraqi clients was credible at the time.
‘What we were saying was, on balance of the evidence, the Iraqis’ story was more likely to be true, but we recognised each side could be true,’ he said. ‘We were trying to set out to the media at the time what the picture was.’
Day said his firm was ‘kept in the dark’ by the Ministry of Defence during the lead-up to the judicial review into Iraq claims and the Al-Sweady Inquiry, stating that evidence showing he should have had suspicions about elements of the claims had been held by the government as early as 2009. This evidence was not disclosed to him until 2011, he told the tribunal.
Leigh Day and three of its solicitors – Day, Sapna Malik and Anna Crowther – all deny wrongdoing. The hearing continues.
Day paid 'difficult' Shiner £20k to join Iraq claims, tribunal hears
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