Anurag Mohindru, a 50-year-old King's Counsel who acted in multiple crown court trials including the successful defence of England cricketer Ben Stokes on assault charges, has been disbarred after a tribunal found he lied about studying at the University of Oxford.
The Bar Tribunal Service on Saturday found Mohindru guilty of making a false claim in a 2013 job application that he had studied biomedical science or medicine at Oxford. The five-person panel said the lie, made in both interview and in a written CV when applying to 23 Essex Chambers, risked bringing the profession into disrepute. The tribunal ordered Mohindru to be struck off from the roll of barristers and to pay £54,000 in costs.
Nicholas Ainley, chairman of the disciplinary panel, said Mohindru had told a “reckless, foolish and completely unnecessary lie” and that it was with “genuine regret” the panel found the charge proved, bringing to an end what the tribunal described as a “brilliantly successful” career since Mohindru was called to the bar in 2004.
Mohindru denied tampering with documents and suggested interviewers had misremembered what he said. The panel heard evidence from five barristers who had interviewed him for the 2013 post, and computer experts told the tribunal there was no sign that the CV had been altered. A second charge, that Mohindru had falsely claimed to be a qualified medical doctor, was dismissed by the tribunal.
The hearing also examined other claims Mohindru had reportedly made about his past, including that he had played professional cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and had won a Blue for Oxford against Cambridge; those assertions were not the subject of formal disciplinary charges. Mohindru is chairman of Essex county cricket club, a role the club said he faces losing this weekend.
The tribunal heard evidence on Mohindru’s actual academic history. He studied on a pre-medical programme at St George’s University School of Medicine in the United States but did not qualify as a doctor. He later completed a one-year law conversion course at the University of Wales before being called to the bar.
In mitigation, Mohindru’s counsel, Mark Harries KC, told the panel his client had been “unsophisticated, utterly foolish” and had made a “gross error of judgement that had come back to haunt him.” Harries said Mohindru had suffered serious financial and personal consequences, including selling his house, facing an imminent unpaid tax bill and living in accommodation provided by the school where his wife works.
A witness for Mohindru’s character described his professional accomplishments; the tribunal noted his experience in crown court trials but concluded the dishonesty was sufficient to warrant disbarment because it undermined the integrity of the profession.
A senior London lawyer, speaking to journalists, framed the case in the context of elitism in the legal profession, saying the “top tier is so Oxbridge dominated that when they meet each other they don’t even both ask what university you went to — they ask what college,” and adding that Mohindru’s false claim was “doomed from the start.”
The Bar Standards Board and the Bar Tribunal Service have statutory powers to discipline barristers whose conduct is found to be dishonest or likely to bring the profession into disrepute. The tribunal’s written determination sets out the panel’s findings on the evidence and the reasons for striking Mohindru off the roll.
Mohindru’s disbarment ends a high-profile legal career and raises immediate questions about his public roles, including his chairmanship of the county cricket club. The tribunal’s order that Mohindru pay substantial costs also reflects the panel’s view of the seriousness of his misconduct and the cost of the disciplinary process.
There was no immediate public statement from Mohindru following the ruling. The Bar Tribunal Service document records the panel’s findings and the sanctions imposed; it also records the dismissed charge relating to a claimed medical qualification. Any appeal rights from the tribunal’s decision are governed by the Bar’s disciplinary rules and statutory processes.