- Defendant
-
Mary Poku
(Lincoln's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Her Honour Judith Hughes KC (Chair)
- Mr Alexander Horne
- Mr Matthew McGhee
- Mr John Vaughan
- Ms Rhona Stevens
- Finding and sentence
-
On 9 May 2024 the Tribunal ordered the BSB not to issue Ms Poku a practising certificate for 24 months and also imposed an immediate order not to issue a practising certificate pending any appeal.
Costs of £3251.35 awarded to the BSB. - Status
- Open to appeal
- Dates
- Wednesday 8 - Thursday 9 May 2024
Findings and sanctions of past hearings
Details of published findings and sanctions imposed by Disciplinary Tribunals since BTAS started operations on 1 February 2013 are provided here. Please note that, in line with the BTAS Publication Policy, findings will be removed from the website after 2 years, unless the finding of the Disciplinary Tribunal involves a suspension or disbarment. In these cases, the finding will be posted on the BTAS website indefinitely.
Details of findings and sanctions are published in accordance with the BTAS Publication Policy: Disciplinary Tribunals and other adjudication hearings.
In exceptional circumstances, a tribunal can require the Bar Standards Board to suspend the defendant’s practising certificate from a date determined by the tribunal and which can take immediate effect (rE227 and rE228 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook). In all other instances, the sanction described in the finding sheets attached will only come into effect after the time for appeal has expired. The date is further determined either by a decision of the Treasurer of the defendant’s Inn or the disposal of the appeal should one be made. For specific detail, please refer to the Enforcement Regulations at rE239 and rE241.
Appeals against relevant decisions of Bar Disciplinary Tribunals made before 7 January 2014 were heard by the Visitors to the Inns of Court. Since that date appeals fall under the jurisdiction of the High Court (rE236). The outcome of Visitors’ Hearings (appeals) and appeals to the High Court are also listed on this section of the website.
Using the facility below you may search by: name of barrister; date; type of hearing; sentence and section of the code.
Each set of findings is accorded a status on the following basis:
Open to Appeal: The case is within the period that a barrister can appeal the finding but no appeal has been submitted.
Appeal Pending – Sanction Stayed / Appeal Pending: The barrister has submitted an appeal, which is yet to be heard and the sanction will not be implemented until after the outcome of the appeal is known. This will be the case unless the Disciplinary Tribunal has ordered that the sanction should take effect immediately.
Final – The finding has been pronounced either after the appeal period has expired or following the result of an appeal.
New findings are posted within seven days of a decision, although it can take up to 24 hours for the finding to appear on the website following its posting (or for a finding to not show on the website following its removal).
Details of all publishable findings and sanctionss imposed by Disciplinary Tribunals from 2002 to the present date can also be found on the Bar Standards Board website by clicking here.
An alternative means of dealing with professional misconduct complaints is provided by the Determination by Consent (‘DBC’) procedure. This process is where the Professional Conduct Committee exercises its power to determine the outcome of a disciplinary case with the barrister’s consent. It is designed to provide a more speedy resolution of straightforward cases without the need for a formal Disciplinary Tribunal hearing. Further information on the procedure can be accessed here.
Details of the practising status of any barrister can be found on the Bar Standards Board website, click here for further information.
- Defendant
-
Barry Harwood
(Lincoln's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Mr Yusuf Solley
- Mr Geoffrey Brighton
- Ms Helen Norris
- Ms Sirah Abraham
- His Honour James Meston KC (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
-
On 1 May 2024 the Tribunal disbarred Mr Harwood and ordered the BSB not to issue a practicing certificate pending appeal. Costs of £5,544 awarded to the BSB
- Status
- Final
- Dates
- Monday 29 April - Wednesday 1 May 2024
- Defendant
-
Peter Wareing
(Inner Temple)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour James Meston KC (Chair)
- Ms Sirah Abraham
- Mr Alexander Horne
- Mr Vince Cullen
- Mr Kenneth Cameron
- Finding and sentence
-
Disbarred. Suspension of practice rights pending appeal order to start on 10 May 2024.
Costs - £12,003.60 to be paid to the BSB.
Please note that Mr Wareing has appealed against the Tribunal's decision. - Status
- Appeal pending
- Dates
- Monday 18, Wednesday 20 - Thursday 21 March and Friday 26 April 2024
- Defendant
-
Naseem Bajwa
(Gray's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour James Meston KC (Chair)
- Ms Justine Davidge
- Mr Alexander Horne
- Ms Claire Cheetham
- Mr Andrew Ward
- Finding and sentence
- On 27 November 2023 the hearing adjourned part heard. It resumed on 11 April 2024. The Tribunal, after finding facts in November 2023, took no further action considering Mr Bajwa had been disbarred from a previous hearing.
- Status
- Final
- Dates
- Monday 27 November 2023 and Thursday 11 April 2024
- Defendant
-
Stephen Taylor
(Inner Temple)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Mr Yusuf Solley
- Mr Vince Cullen
- Ms Melissa West
- Mr Paul Ozin KC
- Her Honour Sara Staite (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
-
Suspension for 6 months.
Attend public access course
Costs - £2,670 to be paid to the BSB.
On 29 April 2024 Mr Taylor appealed against the Tribunal's decision. - Status
- Appeal pending
- Date
- Wednesday 10 April 2024
- Defendant
-
Zaheer Ahmad
(Lincoln's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Ms Hayley Firman
- Mr James Potts
- Mr Andrew Ward
- Mr Ian Arundale
- Her Honour Janet Waddicor (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
-
Suspension for 6 months.
Costs - £2,496 to be paid to the BSB
On 24 April 2024, Mr Ahmad appealed the decision of the Tribunal. The suspension will therefore take effect after the appeal has been concluded. - Status
- Appeal pending
- Date
- Thursday 4 April 2024
- Defendant
-
Andrew Begg
(Lincoln's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Mr Alexander Horne
- Ms Monica Stevenson
- Ms Helen Norris
- Mr Vince Cullen
- His Honour James Meston KC (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
-
On 4 April 2024 the Tribunal ordered that the BSB should not issue Mr Begg a practising certificate for 5 years.
No order of costs was made. - Status
- Final
- Dates
- Tuesday 2 - Thursday 4 April 2024
- Defendant
-
Julian Orr
(Lincoln's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Mr Yusuf Solley
- Mr Kenneth Cameron
- Ms Justine Davidge
- Mr John Vaughan
- Her Honour Judith Hughes KC (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
-
Disbarred and 3 month suspension. Immediate suspension imposed.
Costs of £2382 payable to the Bar Standards Board. - Status
- Final
- Dates
- Monday 4 - Tuesday 5 March 2024
- Defendant
-
Farzana Akram
(Middle Temple)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Ms Claire Cheetham
- Mr John Vaughan
- Ms Ruth Gray
- Her Honour Janet Waddicor (Chair)
- Mr David Brooke KC
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred. BSB ordered not to issue practising certificate pending any appeal. £750 costs payable to the BSB.
- Status
- Final
- Dates
- Wednesday 21 - Thursday 22 February 2024
- Defendant
-
Lewis Tresman
(Gray's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Ms Monica Stevenson
- Mr Kenneth Cameron
- Mr Andrew Ward
- Her Honour Janet Waddicor (Chair)
- Ms Ruth Gray
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred. No order for costs.
- Status
- Open to appeal
- Date
- Monday 19 February 2024