This week’s refusal by the High Court to overturn the disbarment of prominent barrister Jo Sidhu KC for sexual misconduct will help drive “behavioural change in the profession”, it has been claimed.
The Administrative Court of the High Court on Tuesday upheld a Bar Tribunal ruling from May last year, disbarring Sidhu in relation to inappropriate sexual behaviour with an aspiring barrister.
Beth Hale, a partner at London employment boutique CM Murray, said the proceedings demonstrated the seriousness with which regulators are treating sexual misconduct, particularly in cases “where there is an imbalance of power” as was clear in this instance.
Hale, who specialises in disciplinary cases, said: “Barristers generally aren’t employees which can make it difficult for individuals to assert rights when misconduct has taken place, but the risk of serious regulatory consequences is likely to drive behavioural change in the profession.”
She said this was “clearly extremely important” given the findings of an independent review by Baroness Harriet Harman KC published last year that found evidence of widespread bullying, harassment and sexual harassment at the Bar.
She also noted that the case had wider implications for solicitors, among others.
The tribunal found in May last year that three out of 15 professional misconduct charges against Sidhu were proven.
In Tuesday’s judgment, Mr Justice Choudhury said the proven charges related to an occasion when Sidhu had invited a mini-pupil to his hotel room “ostensibly to discuss a case he was working on” before going on to insist that she stay the night and sleep on his bed “before engaging in sexual kissing and touching”.
Choudhury said the tribunal had been right to disbar Sidhu, a former chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), dismissing all four grounds of appeal and rejecting Sidhu’s claim that a lengthy suspension should have been imposed.
He explained: “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 to… gratify his own sexual desires.”
The tribunal, he said, was entitled “to view such conduct as particularly serious and not adequately addressed by anything less than the indicative sanction of disbarment”.
Choudhury said Sidhu had enjoyed a “successful career at the Bar” and recognised his contribution to the profession, but said the tribunal 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”.
In response, the Bar Standards Board thanked those witnesses who had come forward, saying that “without whom we could not have taken enforcement action in this case”, adding that the judge’s finding upheld the earlier decision that there was “no place for such conduct at the Bar”.
They added: “We would encourage others experiencing similar behaviour in the profession to come forward and report this to us.”
The ruling came a day after Sidhu’s successor as CBA chair, Kirsty Brimelow KC, delivered her inaugural speech as chair of the Bar Council, in which she pledged to tackle bullying and harassment at the Bar, and to implement the Harman review’s recommendations.
Brimelow said: “All barristers are entitled to work in a safe environment and there is no place for bullying and harassment in this profession,” adding that junior colleagues and aspiring barristers shouldn’t be deterred “from the pathway to and in the Bar by the unacceptable behaviour of a minority”.
Sidhu was represented by Vikram Sachdeva KC of 39 Essex Chambers and juniors, instructed by Shakespeare Martineau. The Bar Standards Board was represented by Fiona Horlick KC of Outer Temple Chambers and a junior, instructed by Capsticks.
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