Tortoise Media
A senior British barrister facing charges of inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment by four women is trying to keep his forthcoming disciplinary tribunal secret, Tortoise can report.
Jo Sidhu KC, who as chair of the Criminal Bar Association in 2022 spearheaded a high-profile campaign for higher legal aid fees, has instructed lawyers to ask for his misconduct hearing to be held behind closed doors.
Sidhu’s former solicitors subsequently warned the media not to publish this fact, in an email which explained that Sidhu was applying for anonymity and at the same time sought to impose a duty of confidence on journalists who had not agreed to it.
Ordinarily the Bar Standards Board, the barristers’ regulator, holds substantive misconduct hearings in public, while preliminary directions hearings are heard in private. Requests by the media including Tortoise for the opportunity to argue against the anonymity application have been refused: the judge said he would not hear any third party applications.
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