Former barrister loses second disbarment appeal

A former barrister has lost her second appeal against a tribunal’s decision to remove her from the profession. Sophia Cannon, called in 2001, was disbarred in 2020 after being found guilty of four charges of professional misconduct in relation to litigation she had brought in the family court.

Cannon’s appeal to the High Court was successful on one charge but was dismissed in relation to the other three. On appeal to the Court of Appeal, Cannon claimed that the judge had erred and that Cannon had lacked mental capacity to participate in the tribunal.

However Lord Justice Moylan, Lord Justice Lewis and Lord Justice Edis refused the appeal on all grounds. Giving lead judgment in Cannon v Bar Standards Board, Lewis said the reports on Cannon did not ‘provide a sufficient evidential basis, considered individually, or cumulatively, or with all the other evidence in the case, to rebut the presumption that the appellant had capacity to take the decisions necessary to enable her to participate in the disciplinary process…or the conduct of the appeal to the High Court’.

He added: ‘This is a second appeal. There may be significant difficulties in considering appeals based on an alleged lack of capacity for the first time on a second appeal. In the circumstances of this case, however, it has been possible to address the issue and the evidence, and to conclude that permission to rely on fresh evidence and to appeal on this ground should be refused. It is not necessary to address those difficulties.’

The appeal judgment added that there had been ‘nothing arguably wrong’ in the judge’s approach and he was ‘entitled, indeed correct, to take the view’ that Cannon’s conduct undermined the ‘barrister’s honesty and integrity’.