Barrister Daniel Matovu

WHEN his long legal battle began after expulsion from a barrister’s chambers seven years ago, Daniel Matovu never thought it would go on this long.

Uganda-born Matovu, the only black barrister at 2 Temple Gardens for 18 years, was summarily expelled after a vote of all 59 colleagues when he alleged racial discrimination by a senior clerk in 2019.

That sparked a complex six-year legal contest whose latest verdict two weeks ago has resulted in the removal of an employment judge from all future hearings in the case after an appeal found him guilty of bias.

In his written judgment six months after the Employment Appeal Tribunal hearing in London, deputy High Court judge Bruce Carr KC agreed the judge, Graeme Hodgson, had shown bias against Matovu when he refused to allow changes to his claim that his opponents had not objected to during a hearing in December 2024.

As well as Carr allowing Matovu’s appeal against the previous verdict on grounds of “perversity” he ordered Hodgson should have “no further involvement in the appellant’s claim”.

Eton and Oxford-educated Matovu, representing himself, had launched his appeal on the grounds a decision to refuse changes to his claim was unreasonable and that the judge had shown bias in the way he had questioned Matovu at a December 2024 hearing.

In his judgment, Carr said that Hodgson’s questioning of Matovu “gave the impression that the employment judge had entered the arena” on behalf of the chambers.

He added that despite his opponents not objecting to any of the changes Matovu had sought, the judge nonetheless went into “a protracted debate” with Matovu during the hearing, eventually rejecting his requested amendments.

In the 33-page judgment, Carr wrote he was “troubled” by the “vigour” of Hodgson’s arguments opposing Matovu’s additions.

It is the first major victory for Matovu, a barrister for 40 years and an expert in employment law, in his complex legal fight to prove racial discrimination and unfair dismissal against the prestigious London chambers; 2 Temple Gardens has argued throughout the six-year proceedings that Matovu was dismissed lawfully by members and that a claim of racial discrimination against a senior clerk had been made in bad faith.

But commenting on the new judgment this week, Matovu said he would now move forward with an appeal even though it could extend matters for another two years: “I hope this will help me get a fairer hearing in future from other judges. I’m never going to give up.”