The barrister who led the criminal bar during its historic summer of strikes is facing allegations of sexual harassment before a professional tribunal, it has been revealed.
Jo Sidhu KC was chair of the Criminal Bar Association during 2022 when barristers launched industrial action over legal aid fees. He left that role in August 2022 and was succeeded by former vice-chair Kirsty Brimelow KC.
The Gazette revealed in July that Sidhu had relinquished his practising certificate and stopped practising as a barrister.
The Times newspaper reported today that Sidhu has been reported to the Bar Standards Board over allegations that he behaved inappropriately with at least four women, claims which he denies.
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The newspaper says that the complainants, said to be young lawyers, lodged their complaints through the Bar Council’s online hotline, Talk to Spot - a smartphone app developed by US tech company Spot, which enables barristers to talk through and record contemporaneously inappropriate behaviour at work.
Barristers can choose to save the report for their own records, or print the report and sent it to their chambers, employer, other bodies or the Bar Council.
The complaints in Sidhu’s case have been passed to the BSB and his case is expected to be heard at a Bar Tribunal and Adjudication Service (BTAS) disciplinary tribunal.
The Gazette understands that Sidhu had intended to apply for an anonymity order at the BTAS. A judge at the tribunal had refused to consider representations from the media challenging the proposed anonymity.
In a statement this morning, his representstive Brett Wilson LLP said neither he nor the firm would be making any comment.
He was praised in 2022 for his leadership of the criminal bar, when he articulated its demands of a 25% fee uplift for written work, a clear timetable for the implementation of Sir Christopher Bellamy’s recommendations on wasted and special preparation, a second brief fee for section 28 cases, and a pay review body ‘that protects us from the ravages of inflation’.
