- Defendant
-
Peter Collins
(Gray's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- Mr Godwin Busuttil
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred/ 2 x 3 Months Suspension [concurrent]. Practising Certificate suspended on the 22 May 2017.
- Status
- Final
- Date
- Thursday 18 May 2017
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
-
Martin Christie
(Gray's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour Stuart Sleeman (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred.
- Status
- Appeal dismissed
- Date
- Monday 26 October 2015
- 14.00 hrs start
- Defendant
-
Mahnoor Choudhury
(Lincoln's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour John Price (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred / Reprimanded.
- Status
- Final
- Date
- Wednesday 19 April 2017
- Defendant
-
Yoong Heng Chan
(Lincoln's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Mrs Helen Carter-Shaw
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred.
- Status
- Final
- Date
- Wednesday 11 September 2013
- This hearing will commence at 14:00
- Defendant
-
Sophia Cannon
(Middle Temple)
- Type of hearing
- 3 and 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour Jeremy Carey (Chair)
- Mr Peter Causton
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred
- Status
- Appeal upheld in part
- Dates
- Wednesday 22 - Friday 24 January 2020
- Defendant
-
Nicola Cain
(Middle Temple)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour Alan Greenwood (Chair)
- Ms Tracy Stephenson
- Mr John Vaughan
- Miss Sadia Zouq
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred / Suspended for 6 Months [BSB not to issue a Practising Certificate if applied for during this time]. Costs of £5,900 to be paid to the BSB within 28 days.
- Status
- Final
- Dates
- Monday 10 January and Thursday 3 February 2022
- Should Covid Restrictions disallow the in person hearing it will take place via Zoom
- Defendant
-
Sam Brown
(Inner Temple)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- Her Honour Penny Cushing (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley
- Ms Isabelle Watson
- Finding and sentence
- 6 Months Suspension
- Status
- Final
- Dates
- Wednesday 20 - Friday 22 November 2019
- Defendant
-
Merilyn Brown
(Inner Temple)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred.
- Status
- Final
- Dates
- Friday 4 April and Friday 20 June 2014
- Defendant
-
Frances Brough
(Gray's Inn)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
- Total of 107 months suspension and Disbarment.
- Status
- Final
- Date
- Monday 23 March 2015
- Defendant
-
Constance Briscoe
(Inner Temple)
- Type of hearing
- 5 Person Disciplinary Tribunal
- Panel members
-
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- Mrs Sara Carnegie nee Worrall
- His Honour Nicholas Ainley (Chair)
- Finding and sentence
- Disbarred.
- Status
- Final
- Date
- Friday 15 April 2016