Barrister Robert Michael Kearney has been disbarred and immediately suspended pending any appeal, after a tribunal found him culpable of sexual harassment. 

The charges related to two separate cases of alleged sexual harassment involving two pupil barristers and a student undertaking a mini-pupillage. The first set of proceedings related to Kearney’s conduct towards the two pupils at a chambers social event and subsequently at a bar; the second involved his conduct toward a mini-pupil on separate occasions.

Barrister disbarred for sexual harassment

Source: Michael Cross

The disbarment follows Kearney’s previous disciplinary history for similar conduct, the Bar Standards Board said in a statement. The tribunal also imposed an immediate suspension pending any appeal, ordering that the BSB take immediate steps to suspend Kearney’s practising certificate.

BSB director of legal and enforcement Sara Jagger said: 'The tribunal’s decision to disbar Mr Kearney demonstrates that sexual harassment is manifestly incompatible with the high standards expected of the Bar - this type of conduct has no place in a modern, inclusive Bar.'

Kearney was called to the bar by Inner Temple in 1996. In 2021 he was suspended after making sexual comments to a female mini pupil. Three years earlier, he had been fined for inappropriate drunken behaviour towards a pupil. 

Kearney resigned from Lincoln House Chambers in Manchester in March 2020. 

In recent years, the BSB has been criticised for imposing allegedly lenient sanctions on those found to have engaged in sexual misconduct. Last year the regulator toughened up its sanction regime for such behaviour.