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A former CMS solicitor had been rebuked by the SRA for punching a football steward.

In January 2023, Nicholas Galloway had too many pints before the third round FA Cup match between Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle. During the game at Hillsborough stadium, Galloway hit a steward in the face, cutting his eyebrow and causing bruising and swelling to his eye.

While Owls fans celebrated their shock 2-1 victory over Newcastle, the CMS employee was arrested and spent a night in the cells before being released on bail.

Stating that he had no recollection of battering the steward, Galloway pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was sentenced to a 24 month community order which required him to abstain from consuming alcohol for 120 days, carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, and pay compensation of £1,000.

He was also banned from Hillsborough stadium for five years, and appears to have lost his job as well, having joined CMS in an administrative role in 2017 and departed in 2023.

The SRA found that smacking people in the face while inebriated meant Galloway had failed to behave in a way that upheld public trust and confidence in the solicitors’ profession and in legal services provided by authorised persons, in breach of the SRA Principles.

His conduct was “serious” and although he only caused “moderate physical harm”, his assault “had the potential to cause serious harm”.

But the regulator decided a rebuke was sufficient as Sheffield Wednesday reaching the third round of the FA Cup the assault was an “isolated incident” with a low risk of repetition. It was also “out of character” for Galloway, who admitted what he had done and showed “insight and remorse into his conduct”.

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