A former partner at one of the City’s most prominent law firms who was fined after engaging in sexual activity with a junior colleague has resurfaced at a London-listed property company.
Sky News has learnt that Ryan Beckwith, who resigned from his role at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer last year, has been appointed as head of special situations at the flexible office provider IWG.
His appointment will draw interest among the City’s close-knit legal profession, which has seen several senior lawyers punished for inappropriate personal conduct amid intensifying scrutiny of workplace behaviour.
Economy remains 11.7% below pre-pandemic peak
Economy remains 11.7% below pre-pandemic peak
A source said that Mr Beckwith’s role at IWG would be focused on identifying acquisition opportunities in a commercial property market which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this year, the FTSE 250 company raised £315m from shareholders to enable it to buy assets from financially challenged players in the sector.
It was unclear on Friday whether Mr Beckwith had any connection to IWG or its chief executive, Mark Dixon, before being appointed to what a source close to the company described as “a newly created role”.
Mr Beckwith resigned from his role as a restructuring and insolvency partner at Freshfields after being found to have breached the legal profession’s rules by sleeping with a junior female colleague who subsequently complained about the incident.
Where jobs have been lost in UK economy
Where jobs have been lost in UK economy
He was fined £35,000 by a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last October, and ordered to pay £200,000 in legal costs.
Mr Beckwith, who was married at the time of the tribunal, is appealing against the fine at the High Court, having argued that the encounter was a consensual one.
He escaped being struck off or suspended, prompting the Solicitors Regulation Authority to say that it was considering an appeal.
In February, it said it would not do so.
An IWG spokesman declined to comment on its own and Mr Beckwith’s behalf on Friday.