Dickson Minto suspends lawyers after drunken brawl

Private equity boutique Dickson Minto has called in an independent investigator to assess allegations that two of the firm’s lawyers were involved in a drunken brawl during a boozy firmwide weekend away at the Lake District’s Langdale resort.

It is understood that the two lawyers were involved in a fight on Friday 4 June and that the pair were sent home the next day. They have since been suspended by the firm’s management, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Dickson Minto has been using the Langdale resort for more than 10 years and takes all its staff, from cleaning staff to senior management, for a weekend away every couple of years. One Dickson Minto insider said: “Every year somebody gets drunk and falls in the hotel pool.”

It is understood that the firm’s name partners Bruce Minto and Alastair Dickson did not attend this year’s trip.

A man described as a spokersperson for Langdale portrayed the fight to the Scottish press and indicated that the resort was asked not to call in the police. However, Langdale’s chief executive David Banks said that the firm would be “welcome back any time” and categorically denies that there was ever a fight, despite Dickson Minto believing there was enough substance to the allegations to justify suspending the lawyers.