A barrister has been fined £5,500 by the disciplinary tribunal after he was convicted of drink driving 18 months ago.
Stephen Sweeney, called to the bar in 2001, was convicted at Willesden Magistrates Court in October 2021 of driving while more than twice over the prescribed limit. He was fined £440 and disqualified from driving for 21 months.
The Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service said Sweeney’s conviction meant that he had ‘behaved in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession’ and ‘acted in a way which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity’.
The three-person tribunal fined Sweeney £2,750 on each charge, a total of £5,500, and ordered costs of £1,560 to be paid to the Bar Standards Board.
The decision is open to appeal.
