The former chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has been disbarred over sexual misconduct towards a young aspiring lawyer.
Navjot “Jo” Sidhu KC faced disciplinary allegations over inviting a woman in her 20s – referred to in tribunal proceedings as Person 2 – to stay overnight in his hotel bed during a mini-pupillage or work-shadowing experience in 2018.
The incident involved contact with Person 2’s bare skin and sexual touching either over or under clothing, according to a panel at the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS).
The panel found three charges of professional misconduct proven against Sidhu in December last year, concluding that his invitation was of a sexual nature and one which he knew or should have known was inappropriate and unwanted.
At a sanctions hearing on Wednesday, the BTAS panel chair, Janet Waddicor, said the majority decision of the panel was that Sidhu – who appeared over a video link for the hearing – should be disbarred. The sanction applied to two of the three charges with no separate penalty for the remaining charge, which was said to overlap with one of the others.
On the extent to which Sidhu acted in breach of a position of trust and authority, Waddicor said: “He did. He was mentoring her, she was a mini-pupil and he was a senior barrister. There was a significant disparity in seniority and experience between the two of them.
“She was in her mid-20s and he was in his 50s. He was a senior silk and she had not had any experience of the bar before. The disparity could not have been more striking.”
Waddicor added: “The victim was caused anxiety as a result of what happened and undoubtedly it had an impact on her wellbeing.”
She also acknowledged the impact of the proceedings, and the publicity they received, on Sidhu, saying it had been “very painful” for him as well as “shameful and embarrassing”.
Waddicor spoke of “very many good references” from both men and women who described Sidhu as a “valued mentor” and “a man of principle who has devoted his life to the bar”.
Fiona Horlick KC, for the Bar Standards Board, argued for Sidhu to be disbarred.
In written submissions, she said: “It is submitted that 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 in him, must be marked by the most serious of sanctions.
“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.”
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Horlick claimed Sidhu had “shown a complete lack of remorse and an extremely concerning lack of insight into his misconduct”.
Alisdair Williamson KC, for Sidhu, asked the panel not to disbar his client. In oral submissions, he said the panel was not able to be sure that the sexual activity was “unwanted” by Person 2 and that while the incident had caused her anxiety, she did not say she was in fear or humiliated, and later stated that she chose not to pursue a career at the bar “for a whole host of reasons”.
He accepted that Sidhu – who was a key figure in the strike over conditions and government-set fees for legal aid advocacy work in 2022, when he was the chair of the CBA – was a “prominent figure” in the industry and therefore his actions had an impact on public confidence in the profession.
Williamson said what happened was a “one-off” incident with no repetitions since, and Sidhu has undertaken psychotherapy and not worked for 17 months. “To have the matters that have been discussed and dealt with … dealt with to such a great and public extent is a cause of huge shame for him,” he said.
Sidhu has 21 days to appeal against the sanction.
