Roll on Friday rolls it out …
In a possible legal first, a pair of barrister brothers have both been disbarred, RollOnFriday understands.
Jo Sidhu was expelled from the profession after his appeal was dismissed in January, and Ravi Sidhu was disbarred in November last year.
Jo Sidhu, the former Chair of the Criminal Bar, was found to have behaved inappropriately when he persuaded a young woman to stay overnight in his hotel room during her mini pupillage. He convinced the mini-pupil to sleep on his bed by placing cushions down the middle as a “barricade”.
Ravi Sidhu was disbarred for sending invoices to a client on chambers-headed paper which stated his personal bank account details. He was paid £40k by a “vulnerable person who had recently been bereaved” who was “extremely surprised and distressed” when she learned that Ravi’s work for her ”was not undertaken under chambers”.
Ravi Sidhu’s tribunal found that he had “dishonestly created the misleading impression” that the matter was being conducted through his chambers, and that his motivation “was to avoid paying chambers’ money in relation to fees received”.
In his spare time Ravi wrote a prophetic novel, ‘Call This Justice’, about a rule-breaking CPS prosecutor. The blurb referred to Ravi’s childhood in Southall and his late father, Pritam Sidhu, “a celebrated Punjabi writer”.
The publishers may need to update the bit about Ravi being a practising barrister.
A glowing profile of Jo Sidhu in the Hindustan Times also mentions his father, Pritam, a “renowned Punjabi author”. RollOnFriday asked both brothers for comment via Jo Sidhu’s PR representative, but they did not respond.
Sources also blessed ROF with links to TikTok clips which show Jo and Ravi attending a wedding celebration in the midst of their regulatory troubles:
Comparing notes for the disciplinary tribunal?
ROF is pretty sure, without having researched the matter at all, that they are the first sibling barristers to have both fallen foul of the Bar regulator.
RoF was also tipped off that Ravi can now be hired as an actor, and advertises his services dressed up as a barrister:
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/exclusive-barrister-brothers-both-banned-bar
