UK barrister disbarred over claim that he studied medicine at Oxford University

A London disciplinary panel has disbarred UK barrister Anurag Mohindru after finding that he had lied about having pursued medical studies at Oxford University, reported the Law Society Gazette.

Mohindru, a King’s Counsel who was part of Foundry Chambers, faced two professional misconduct charges – one for alleging that he studied at Oxford and another for claiming that he was qualified as a medical doctor. The panel determined that the barrister “knowingly misled” an interview panel in 2013 while applying for a tenancy at 23ES chambers, per a statement published by the Gazette.

During a four-day hearing, interview panel members told the disciplinary tribunal that per Mohindru, he was an Oxford student who had been a cricket “blue.” The tribunal was also presented with a copy of a CV indicating that Mohindru claimed to have attended Oxford from 1993 to 1994.

Mohindru denied any wrongdoing and said that his CV had been tampered with. However, the tribunal determined in a statement published by the Gazette that it was “plain beyond doubt that the CV can only be the one Mr Modhindru sent in 2013” given expert evidence regarding the skill and knowledge needed to alter a document cleanly. The CV therefore corroborated the interview panel’s evidence, the tribunal said.

Mark Harries sought exceptional circumstances for Mohindru to avoid disbarment in mitigation, arguing that the lie was not related to legal services nor made in litigation or in court. Harries said that Mohindru’s contributions to the bar outweighed the damage his lie inflicted on the legal profession’s reputation.

Nicholas Ainley, who chaired the five-person disciplinary panel, shot down Harries’ request, saying in a statement published by the Gazette that the tribunal found it “impossible to come to the conclusion, however much we may wish to, that this amounts to exceptional circumstances.”

“We cannot exclude from consideration that he denied the charges – he’s entitled to do that, but he invoked allegations of far more serious dishonesty against others,” Ainley said.

The tribunal cleared Mohindru of the charge that he claimed to be a qualified medical doctor. Nonetheless, the former barrister was ordered to pay £54,780 in Bar Standards Boards’ costs.