The High Court has dismissed an appeal by high-profile former criminal barrister Navjot ‘Jo’ Sidhu KC against his disbarment.
Former Criminal Bar Association chief Sidhu was found guilty of professional misconduct for inappropriate behaviour after he invited a young woman to stay overnight in his hotel room during a mini-pupillage. He was disbarred by The Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service after three of the 15 charges against him were found proved in relation to Person 2. The five-person panel returned with a majority verdict of three to two on disbarment.
The former CBA chair appealed, arguing that the tribunal erred in law when assessing the seriousness of the misconduct.
Mr Justice Choudhury in Sidhu v Bar Standards Board found Sidhu had used his position as a ‘senior silk and prominent member of the bar’ to pressure the mini pupil and the bar tribunal was entitled to disbar him. He 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.’
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The tribunal’s decision ‘cannot be said to be one that was “clearly inappropriate” or wrong. Accordingly, it is not a decision with which this court can or should interfere’, the judge said.
He added that the tribunal had taken into account Sidhu’s ‘successful career at the bar and his contribution to the profession (and implicitly the public interest in not ending the career of such a person)’. However, it was ‘entitled to consider that such matters did not outweigh the public interest in maintaining confidence in the profession as well as the other purposes for imposing sanctions for misconduct; including the maintenance and promotion of high standards and deterrence’.
All four grounds of appeal were dismissed. Sidhu remains disbarred.
A BSB spokesperson, who welcomed the judgment, 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.’
He added that the judgment ‘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.’
