Students at prestigious law society accused of racism after group’s WhatsApp messages are leaked online

 Students at a prestigious law society have been accused of racism after a whistleblower revealed the group’s WhatsApp messages.  

Exeter University has launched a “major investigation” and informed police after remarks made by Brackton Law Society members in a private group were published on social media.  

Screenshots show that comments in the group WhatsApp conversation include “he is such a dirty arab”, “this is why we need a race war” and “he’s such a stupid little arse licking paki”.    

Arsalan Motavali, a law student at Exeter University, told how he has passed over evidence of the comments to the Guild and University to investigate.  

He said he felt compelled to speak out about the “racist and vile” comments made by his peers.  

Mr Motavali, who said he created to group WhatsApp conversation last summer initially for six people, explained how as more students were invited to join, “the content became increasingly racist and deplorable”.

 “I did not voice my concerns in the group, but went silent for a long time, rarely pitching in to help with exam advice or talk about football,” he said in a statement on Facebook.

“I mainly stayed in the chat to collect evidence…Repeated racial slurs, a call for a race war and racially insulting peers would be enough to get individuals severely disciplined, fired and shunned in any other workplace - the Guild, University and BLS should act no differently.”

Mr Motavali went on: “I refuse to stand by and let such people who speak in these terms go on to recruit at future law firms or be a part of University culture, whilst cowering behind their phones and talking like this about people that are part of the society they represent.”

He concluded by saying that the University of Exeter “has a serious racism problem that they need to deal with urgently and by setting a precedent”.  

The Brackton Law Society is named after Henry de Bracton, a 13th century Devonian jurist who composed one of the first treatises on English law.  

The society, founded in 1965, boasts a number of top law firms as sponsors, including Allen & Overy, DLA Piper, Simmons & Simmons,Clifford Chance, and Freshfields.  

Hill Dickinson LLP, a Liverpool-based law firm, revoked a job offer to one of the students involved.  A spokesman said: “Following serious allegations made against an individual who was due to join the firm in September 2019, we have now spoken to the individual and revoked his offer of employment.”  

The commercial law firm said they are “deeply disturbed” by the messages which “do not in any way represent the views of the firm”.

A spokesman for Exeter University said: “The University of Exeter does not tolerate any form of racist, sexist or bigoted behaviour and is committed to eradicating any instances of discrimination and harassment that may arise.

 “Following reports of allegations involving a small group of students, the University has launched a major investigation, in conjunction with the Students’ Guild, and suspended the students while this takes place. The police have also been informed.”  

A spokesman for the Brackton Law Society said they have “taken the decision to remove those involved from committee, ban the candidate from the ongoing election and indefinitely ban all those involved from the Society”.