Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

BSB Disbars Barrister for Recklessly Misleading the Upper Tribunal and Advancing Meritless Immigration Appeals

Published on: 27 January 2025

Published by a Law360 reporter

Legal News

Article summary

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) imposed a penalty on John McLanachan after he conceded to giving false information to two judges and putting forward ‘meritless’ grounds. Judge Janet Waddicor, who chaired the five-member panel, warned that practitioners pressing immigration claims they know are ‘wholly without merit’ risk eroding public trust in the profession. “Members of the public are rightly concerned about cases being dragged on without merit in immigration appeals, often spanning many years,” she said. The damage to confidence is “serious because inevitably other cases, some of which undoubtedly have merit, are not able to be heard”, she added.

McLanachan, formerly of the now-closed Cadogan Chambers, admitted seven misconduct charges ahead of the hearing, which went ahead without him. Philip Stott of QEB Hollis Whiteman, acting for the BSB, explained the allegations stemmed from three separate hearings before the Upper Tribunal’s (UT) Immigration Chamber challenging adverse immigration rulings. In relation to the first hearing in April 2019, Stott noted the judge found McLanachan had advanced grounds that were “overly lengthy, poorly pleaded and made general and sometimes incoherent submissions”...

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