上庭浮一大白

Barrister handed £500 fine for turning up to court ‘under the influence’ of alcohol

An experienced barrister has been handed a £500 fine by the regulator after turning up to court “under the influence” of alcohol.

According to a Bar Standards Board (BSB) disciplinary finding published this week, Christopher Ellison — who was called to the bar in 2001 — attended Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court last September having “consumed” alcohol.

The BSB stated in its finding that Ellison, who was at court to represent a client, had “behaved in a way likely to diminish the trust and confidence the public places in the profession”.

According to the report, later that day the Bournemouth-based barrister left the same client “unrepresented”, having exited the court prior to the “resumption of an adjourned sentencing hearing”.

Ellison — who according to his LinkedIn spent time as a “top currency trader for a very large bank” before joining the bar — was slapped with a £500 fine and given a reprimand from the leader of his circuit, Bill Mousley QC.

Elsewhere, a fare dodging non-practising barrister has been disbarred.

Dr Peter Barnett, who evaded fares worth up to £19,000 over a two-and-a-half year period, was convicted of six offences of fraud by misrepresentation at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last year. Barnett, 45, from Thame in Oxfordshire, was handed a 16 week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

The Oxford graduate — who was called to the bar in 2007 — is also a qualified solicitor.

A spokesperson for the BSB said:

Dishonest conduct is incompatible with membership of the bar. The tribunal’s decision to disbar Dr Barnett reflects this.

Speaking to The Times newspaper, a spokesperson for the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) revealed that Barnett had removed himself from the roll seven years ago, and therefore is no longer within its regulatory remit.

(Legal Cheek 28/9/2016)

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