Top barrister made aspiring lawyer have 'unwanted sex', tribunal hears

A King's Counsel who once headed up the Criminal Bar Association allegedly used his powerful and influential position to coax an aspiring barrister into 'unwanted' sexual activity, a tribunal has heard.

Navjot 'Jo' Sidhu, who is married, faces 10 charges of professional misconduct that pertain to allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour with two young women who came to him for advice.

The high-flying lawyer, 58, is alleged to have invited the two women separately to a hotel room in the space of a fortnight across November and December 2018.

He is also said to have encouraged one of the young women to swap 'horrifying' sexually explicit messages with him, as well as make explicit video calls, over the course of three years.

The tribunal has heard he used his influence, as a highly visible and well regarded barrister, to 'gain sexual favours'. 

Sidhu has denied acting unprofessionally, claiming the two sexual relationships had been entirely consensual without his position playing a part and were not a matter for his professional regulator.

A seven-day disciplinary hearing heard Sidhu initiated sexual activity with a young paralegal, named only as Person 2, who was doing work experience with him with a view to becoming a barrister.

He is said to have invited her back to his hotel room while working on a murder case, the tribunal was told, and asked her to join him in bed despite her repeated insistence that she wanted to leave or stay on the sofa.

Person 2 told the tribunal that she had not responded to his advances after she lay on the bed, when he began to kiss and fondle her.

 'I touched his private parts at some point - I was not enthusiastic about it,'  she said, giving evidence remotely and from behind a screen.

Sidhu then 'gaslit' the woman, telling her the next day: 'You weren't very responsive last night,' the tribunal heard. 

Person 2 added that Sidhu was 'a senior' in the profession who 'holds a lot out in terms of your careers'.

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Fiona Horlick, KC, for the Bar Standards Board, said the way the encounter unfolded amounted to 'induc(ing) reluctant consent' and that the woman had been coaxed into 'unwanted sex'. 

The other woman, named as Person 3, was a third-year law student that was allegedly invited by Sidhu to his hotel room after she contacted him on LinkedIn to ask for professional advice.

He is said to have touched her knee at the hotel in December 2018 - but nothing further transpired until he texted her years later to make clear he wanted to have sex with her, offering to meet her at her student accomodation in London.

After a 'significant break' the pair began exchanging sexually explicit messages. These were not shown in court, but Ms Horlick KC, for the BSB, said members of the public would be 'horrified' by the exchanges.

Person 3, the tribunal heard, was being supported in her studies by the Sutton Trust, a charity that encourages diversity in the professions.

Ms Horlick KC told the hearing it would have been 'clearly obvious' how vulnerable Person 3 was.

Sidhu, who previously led thousands of barristers on strike during a row over legal aid rates with the Tory government, did not give evidence during the proceedings, but has denied professional misconduct.

The 58-year-old had sought to have his case heard in private, but this application was dismissed. Five other charges were struck out on the grounds they did not meet the threshold of amounting to professional misconduct.

He voluntarily gave up his certificate to practise earlier this year. No reason was given as to why. 

The Bar Standards Board said in July: 'Mr Sidhu has not been suspended from practice but is currently an unregistered barrister and does not have a practising certificate.'

His barrister, Alisdair Williamson KC, told the tribunal that Sidhu 'is not a monster; he is not a predator', adding that he had not sought them out aggressively or forced them to do anything against their will.

Mr Williamson suggested the relationship with Person 2 - who had described 'not responding' as Sidhu kissed her - had been 'jocular' and that their relationship had been 'warm and flirtatious'.

Person 3, who told the tribunal she had come to believe she had been 'groomed', had in fact 'consensually, willingly and enthusiastically' entered into the relationship, Mr Williamson suggested.

The tribunal, which finished hearing evidence yesterday, is expected to give their decision next month.

Sidhu, who hails from Southall in west London, wrote he 'never wanted to be a barrister' in a column for Counsel magazine in 2023, in which he extolled the virtues of equality and diversity.

He led thousands of barristers on strike during a bitter feud with the Johnson Tory government over legal aid rates; the action led to his successor, Liz Truss, granting a 12 per cent pay rise for thousands of barristers.

'I have tried to remain faithful to my favourite motto, 'we rise by lifting others', by mentoring scores of aspiring barristers, speaking at university campuses across the country to encourage students to consider a career at the Bar, and supervising pupils in chambers,' he wrote in the column.

He was state-educated at Villiers High School and studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford; he then worked as a researcher at the BBC before being called to the Bar in 1993, taking silk 19 years later.

Sidhu served as president of the Society of Asian Lawyers for four years and ran to become director of public prosecutions - the top CPS job once held by Sir Keir Starmer - twice.

He latterly moved to No5 Barristers' Chambers - but left and removed himself from the Bar Standards Board's register, taking him out of practice.