Justice Ahmad Shahrir Salleh awarded RM200,000 for reputational damages and injury to feelings, RM100,000 for loss of professional work opportunity, RM20,000 for mental stress and hurt, and RM20,000 as aggravated damages.
“The total global sum represents a fair, reasonable, and proportionate compensation for the breach committed,” he said in delivering judgment following an assessment of damages.
The judge, however, did not order costs as the issue was one of public interest.
In submissions at a hearing to determine the quantum of damages payable held earlier this year, Shafee said the Bar’s actions had ruined his reputation and livelihood.
He said the Bar’s violation of its statutory duty had given rise to litigation which caused him to lose several opportunities to take up other cases. Shafee sought RM2 million in damages from the Bar.
However, Andrew Chiew, representing the Bar, told the court that Shafee had taken many high-profile cases since then. He said there was no evidence to prove that the prominent lawyer’s reputation was impacted, as claimed.
In February 2015, Shafee spoke at a “roadshow” to discuss the Federal Court’s judgment in Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II case which saw the PKR president convicted and sentenced to prison for five years.
Anwar subsequently received a full royal pardon on grounds that his conviction amounted to a travesty of justice.
Shortly after the roadshow, lawyers Tommy Thomas and VC George tabled a motion for debate at the Bar’s annual general meeting (AGM).
In their motion, Thomas and George claimed Shafee had violated a rule which prohibits lawyers from seeking publicity for themselves and sought that the Bar condemn his conduct “in the strongest terms”.
They also called for the Bar Council to refer the matter to the Advocates and Solicitors’ Disciplinary Board.
Shafee’s suit was initially dismissed by the High Court in 2016. The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2018.
However, a three-member Federal Court bench chaired by Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli, the current chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak, allowed Shafee’s appeal in 2021 and ordered the High Court to conduct an assessment of damages.
The apex court said Thomas and George were wrong to discuss Shafee’s conduct at the AGM. It said the Bar had no authority to discuss the conduct of individual lawyers at an AGM as such matters come under the purview of the disciplinary board.
Thomas went on to become attorney-general from June 2018 to February 2020. George retired after sitting as a judge of the High Court and later the Court of Appeal between 1981 and 1995.
Neither of them was held personally liable to Shafee.