Catholic lawyer defends Findlay

Published on Sunday 1 April 2007 01:13

SCOTLAND'S leading Catholic lawyer has been hired to defend Donald Findlay against allegations of sectarianism.

Findlay, a former vice-chairman of Rangers, is accused of bringing the Faculty of Advocates into disrepute by making anti-Catholic remarks.

But his legal team's decision to hire Paul Cullen, a Catholic and one of Scotland's most formidable QCs, was last night described by insiders as a "masterstroke".

The partnership between the two giants of the Scottish legal world is all the more remarkable because they are thought to have little personal regard for each other.

Scotland on Sunday recently revealed that Findlay is accused of making sectarian remarks during an after-dinner speech in Northern Ireland and in an interview with prominent American journalist Franklin Foer, editor of The New Republic magazine.

Findlay has already been found guilty of professional misconduct by the faculty's complaints committee, but refused to accept the finding.

As a result, the matter has been passed to a full disciplinary tribunal, which will sit in June and has the power to impose a massive fine.

Findlay is the subject of two separate complaints over a speech at a Rangers supporters' event in Larne in April 2005. The QC is alleged to have made a joke about the recent death of Pope John Paul II.

And in Foer's book - How Soccer Explains the World - An Unlikely Theory of Globalisation - Findlay is alleged to have made provocative, sectarian comments, including: "Are you not entitled to say that the Pope is a man of perdition?" Last night, fellow advocates were in open admiration of the decision to hire Cullen.

One said: "If the Faculty of Advocates' hierarchy has overreacted in dragging Findlay down the full disciplinary route, they are going to look a bit ridiculous when Paul Cullen is standing there defending Donald against charges of sectarianism.

"I don't particularly like him, but I have some sympathy. I don't see why he should have his career wrecked for telling a few jokes in dubious taste and expressing personal opinions."

Another senior advocate said of Findlay and Cullen: "They're not friends and have very little in common. But Paul is a real heavyweight and is known to have integrity. If he's standing before the hearing making a forceful case that Donald is not an anti-Catholic bigot, it is likely to be persuasive."

Findlay, the top earner at the criminal bar, took 307,000 out of the legal aid fund in the past financial year. But his decision to instruct Cullen, who commands fees of thousands of pounds a day, will use up a significant chunk of that cash.

Over the past decade he has become one of Scotland's top three earners at the Bar, specialising in lucrative commercial work and raking in an estimated 500,000 each year.

Cullen served as Solicitor-General for Scotland in the last Tory administration, having made his reputation as a dogged prosecutor while operating as an advocate-depute.

Findlay told Scotland on Sunday: "I have handed the case over to my solicitors and it's up to them to instruct counsel on my behalf. Knowing the firm, I think it's likely they may have chosen Paul Cullen, but that's a matter for them."