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Silk Jo Sidhu KC disbarred for sexual misconduct

A high profile criminal law barrister in London has been disbarred by a disciplinary tribunal after being found guilty of sexual misconduct.

Jo Sidhu KC, the former chair of the Criminal Bar Association, was  found  guilty of inappropriate behaviour for inviting a young woman to stay overnight in his hotel room during a mini pupillage (19 March).

Sidhu was cleared of the majority of misconduct charges against him relating to inappropriate behaviour with three women who were either law students or undergoing mini pupillage at the time of the alleged incidents, the England and Wales Gazette reports.

Of the 15 charges, five were struck out after the tribunal found there was no case to answer and three, in relation to a person who was undertaking a mini-pupillage placement, were proven.

Abused position

Fiona Horlick KC for the Bar Standards Board said: “The serious sexual misconduct in this case was overwhelmingly likely to have caused long term harm and it would have been foreseeable to any reasonable person.

“This case, serious sexual misconduct involving a very senior and well-known male silk committed against a young, vulnerable mini-pupil where he abused his professional position and abused the trust she had him, must be marked by the most serious of sanctions."

Seriousness

“There is no other sanction that would adequately mark the seriousness of the proven misconduct nor would any lesser sanction act as a deterrent or encourage reporting or restore public trust and confidence in the bar or assist diversity, recruitment and retention at the bar.

“Any sanction other than disbarment would send a signal that this type of misconduct could be consistent with a continued career at the bar for the barrister involved and that victims of sexual misconduct are not protected,” she said.

Horlick stated that Sidhu had “shown a complete lack of remorse and an extremely concerning lack of insight into his misconduct”.

Sidhu has 21 days to appeal against the sanction.