Peter Savage, one of the Midlands’ leading personal injury lawyers, may be fired for a prior conviction for assaulting a hotel manager.
Savage was convicted in August 2006 after a night celebrating a court victory ended with him slapping Amanda Rymond across the face. In court, Mr. Savage pleaded guilty to the charges, but continued to practice as a lawyer.
The assault occurred on the night of April 21, 2006 when Mr. Savage, along with a group of friends, entered the Forest Hotel where Ms. Rymond was the manager on call.
After Mr. Savage spilled a drink, she asked him to leave. She recalls that “he had been drinking a lot and seemed very drunk to me. He would stagger and fall on people. It’s a nice hotel and a lot of local people and business people go there for a quiet drink after work.”
“I spoke to Mr. Savage a couple of times during the night. They told me that he and a few others were celebrating winning a big court case in London.”
“I offered to call him a cab, but he got mad. He raised his voice at some of the other customers and started yelling dumb things.”
“I called him a taxi and went out with him. He was very rude to me. But when the taxi arrived, just before he got in, he walked towards me and slapped me hard across the face. It hurt but it was more of a shock than anything else.”
“I didn’t expect him to do something like this and I could hardly believe it. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before and thankfully nothing like it since.”
“He didn’t apologize and went to get in the taxi, but another customer and I managed to stop him and we kept him there until the police arrived. Then they arrested him and took him away.”
Following the incident, Mr Savage pleaded guilty to assault in court, where he was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £500 compensation and £50 court costs. The judge justified the large fine by stating that “lawyers should know better than to behave like that.”
The incident has now come to the attention of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Mr Savage is facing a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. He could be dropped and banned from practicing and faces a fine of up to £5000.
The SRA said that “in cases like this where someone has been convicted in court, we would not have to file a case, rather the Disciplinary Court of Lawyers would decide the punishment.”
Geoffry Negus, an SRA spokesman, explained why the SRA was investigating the charges, saying “it is important that lawyers’ conduct outside the workplace does not bring the profession into disrepute.”
While the SRA takes violent crime very seriously, Mr. Savage may escape removal as he has no previous blemishes on his record. He is also a member of the Personal Injury Lawyers Association and is described as a very talented attorney.
His area of expertise covers serious head and spinal cord injuries, fatalities, and injuries to children. Savage did not offer any comment on his current situation.