Misconduct towards mini-pupil
Former high-profile criminal barrister Jo Sidhu has failed in his bid to overturn his disbarment, after a disciplinary tribunal last year found him guilty of professional misconduct for “inappropriate and unwanted” behaviour.
Legal Cheek previously reported that the former chair of the Criminal Bar Association faced 28 charges involving three women, all law students or aspiring barristers on mini-pupillages.
Three allegations were upheld, relating to an unnamed woman in her 20s. The tribunal found that Sidhu invited her to his hotel room, asked her to stay overnight, changed into his pyjamas, and created a pillow “barricade” on the bed, despite her evidence that she wanted to leave or sleep on the sofa.
The tribunal ordered Sidhu’s disbarment in March of last year, after which the former barrister challenged the decision in the High Court. His legal team argued, among other things, that the tribunal erred in law when assessing the seriousness of the misconduct and that its approach to aggravating and mitigating factors was flawed.
The High Court has now rejected Sidhu’s appeal.
In a 51-page ruling handed down earlier today, Mr Justice Choudhury held that the tribunal was entitled to conclude that Sidhu’s misconduct fell within the upper range of seriousness and that disbarment was a proportionate sanction. The judge found that the tribunal had not erred in law in its assessment of culpability and harm, had properly weighed aggravating and mitigating factors, and had given adequate reasons for its decision.
The judge said:
“The misconduct in this case did not result from an unwise, spontaneous and consensual sexual encounter in a hotel. This was misconduct that involved a senior Silk and prominent member of the Bar using his position effectively to pressurise a young female mini pupil into a compromising situation in order to gratify his own sexual desires. The Tribunal was entitled, as a specialist panel of the professional regulator, to view such conduct as particularly serious and not adequately addressed by anything less than the indicative sanction of disbarment.”
Sidhu remains disbarred.
A spokesperson for the Bar Standards Board said: “We are thankful to the witnesses who had the courage to come forward and without which we could not have taken enforcement action in this case. We welcome this judgment, which upholds the Independent Tribunal’s decision that there is no place for such conduct at the Bar. We would encourage others experiencing similar behaviour in the profession to come forward and report this to us.”