House of Lords to judge Porter misconduct case

The question of whether Dame Shirley Porter is guilty of wilful misconduct over the sale of Westminster housing stock will be decided by the House of Lords in a hearing beginning this week.
The Court of Appeal in 1999 found Porter, then leader of Westminster City Council, and deputy leader David Weeks, not guilty of wilful misconduct in their roles of devising and implementing a policy of targeting designated sales of council properties in marginal wards.
Alan Langleben has advised Porter on this matter since the late 1980s, when he was at Brecher & Co, which has since amalgamated with Nicholson Graham & Jones, where Langleben was a partner until last year. Now a Rochman Landau partner, he has been retained by his former firm as a consultant on the case. "If the House of Lords takes a different view and decides the decision by the housing committee was unlawful, they'll then have to decide whether this was wilful or not," he commented.
Lead counsel for Porter is Jeremy McMullen QC of Old Square Chambers, with juniors Stuart Cakebread of 3 Paper Buildings and Clare Roberts of Francis Taylor Building, who are also both acting for Weeks.
Rowe & Maw partner Tony Child is advising the auditor, and has instructed John Howell QC of Blackstone Chambers with Karen Mc-Hugh of 4 Breams Buildings.