The court heard the 58-year-old lead solicitor arranged for the trainee barrister to have ‘unwanted sex’ with him in his hotel room on the first night of work experience

A Crown Advocate who once chaired the Criminal Bar Association allegedly used his powerful and influential position to persuade an aspiring barrister to engage in ‘unwanted’ sexual activity, a court has heard.

Navjot ‘Jo’ Sidhu, who is married, faces 10 charges of professional misconduct relating to allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior with two young women who came to him for advice.

It is alleged that the 58-year-old successful lawyer invited two women separately to a hotel room within two weeks in November and December 2018.

He is also said to have encouraged one of the young women to exchange “appalling” sexually explicit messages and explicit video calls with him over a three-year period.

The court heard he used his influence as a highly visible and respected lawyer to ‘obtain sexual favors’.

Sidhu denied acting unprofessionally, claiming the two sexual encounters were entirely consensual, with his position playing no role, and were not a matter for his professional regulator.

The seven-day disciplinary hearing heard that Sidhu had sexual intercourse with a young paralegal, identified only as Person 2, who was doing work experience with him with the aim of becoming a lawyer.

The court was told he invited her to his hotel room while he was working on a murder case and asked her to join him in bed, despite her repeated insistence that he wanted to leave or stay on the sofa.

Person 2 told the court that she did not respond to his advances when he began kissing and caressing her after she lay down on the bed.

Accomplished lawyer Navjot ‘Jo’ Sidhu faces 10 charges of professional misconduct over his behavior around two young women hoping to follow in his footsteps

The 58-year-old, who voluntarily quit the practice when faced with allegations, denies the charges against him (pictured while leading a legal aid strike in 2022)

“At one point I touched her private parts, I wasn’t too keen on it,” she said, testifying remotely and from behind a screen.

Sidhu then ‘gassed’ the woman and the next day told her: ‘You didn’t react much last night,’ the court heard.

Person 2 added that Sidhu is a ‘veteran’ in the profession who has ‘achieved a lot in terms of your career’.

Fiona Horlick, KC, of ​​the Bar Standards Board, said the course of the encounter “led to reluctant consent” and the woman was persuaded into “unwanted sex”.

The other woman, identified as Person 3, was a third-year law student who was allegedly invited to Sidhu’s hotel room after he contacted her on LinkedIn seeking professional advice.

He is said to have touched her knee at the hotel in December 2018 but nothing came to light until years later when he texted her, making it clear he wanted to have sex with her and offering to meet her at his student flat in London.

After a ‘significant gap’, the pair began exchanging sexually explicit messages. These were not shown in court but Ms Horlick KC, for the BSB, said the public would be ‘horrified’ by the changes.

The court heard that Person 3 was supported in his work by the Sutton Trust, a charity that promotes diversity in professions.

Ms Horlick KC said at the hearing it would be ‘clearly obvious’ how vulnerable Person 3 was.

Sidhu, It had previously led to thousands of lawyers going on strike during a dispute over legal aid rates. conservative state, He gave no evidence during the trial but denied professional misconduct.

The 58-year-old had asked for his case to be heard privately, but his application was rejected. Five other charges were dropped on the grounds that they did not meet the threshold for professional misconduct.

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

The Bar Standards Board said in July: ‘Mr Sidhu has not been suspended from practicing law but is currently an unregistered solicitor and is not certified to practice.’

His lawyer, Alisdair Williamson KC, told the court that Sidhu was ‘not a monster; “He’s not a predator,” she said, adding that he doesn’t aggressively seek them out or force them to do anything against their will.

Mr Williamson claimed that his relationship with Person 2, who stated that Sidhu ‘did not respond’ when he kissed him, was ‘playful’ and that their relationship was ‘warm and flirtatious’.

Jo Sidhu speaks at an event in Parliament in 2018. He is seen as a highly visible campaign attorney advocating for equality and diversity.

Mr Williamson claimed that the third person, who told the court that he believed she was ‘well-groomed’, actually entered into the relationship ‘consensively, willingly and enthusiastically’.

The court, which heard the evidence yesterday, is expected to give its decision next month.

Sidhu, from Southall, west London, wrote in a column that he ‘never wanted to be a lawyer’. Advisor magazine In 2023, he extolled the virtues of equality and diversity.

A bitter row with Johnson’s Tory government over legal aid rates led to thousands of lawyers going on strike; The action led his successor, Liz Truss, to give 12 percent pay increases to thousands of lawyers.

‘I tried to stay true to my favorite motto, ‘we rise by lifting others’; mentoring scores of aspiring lawyers, speaking at college campuses across the country and supervising students in chambers to encourage students to consider a career at the Bar. ‘ he wrote in the column.

He studied government at Villiers High School and studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford; He later worked as a researcher for the BBC and was called to the Bar in 1993 and took silk 19 years later.

Sidhu was president of the Asian Lawyers Association for four years and twice stood for director of prosecution, the most senior CPS post once held by Sir Keir Starmer.

He then proceeded to Barristers’ Chambers No. 5, but left and removed himself from the register of the Bar Standards Board, which suspended him.