Originally suspended over ‘hostile’ emails to solicitors
A barrister who continued to act for clients while suspended has been disbarred.
Peter Wareing, who was called to the bar of England and Wales by Inner Temple in October 2004, was suspended from practice between July 2021 and January 2022 after a series of incidents back in 2015.
At the time, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) said this included sending “hostile” emails to the opposing party’s solicitors in a public access case, making a “false statement” in an email to the solicitors regarding disclosure, and also making a “false statement” to an employment judge during a case management hearing.
Alongside his six month suspension, the barrister was also reprimanded and hit with a £2,000 costs bill.
Now, however, after continuing to receive instructions during his suspension, he has been disbarred. Whilst suspended, the disciplinary tribunal said, Wareing is said to have acted for clients and held himself out as a practicing barrister by using his chambers email, failing to disclose his suspension, and acting where there were no solicitors on record.
A BSB spokesperson said:
“The public should be able to expect barristers to behave with integrity and comply with orders made by a Disciplinary Tribunal. Deliberately and repeatedly failing to comply with a suspension from practice carries real risks of both harm to public confidence in the profession and its regulation. There are also risks to Mr Wareing’s actual and potential clients. The tribunal’s decision to disbar Mr Wareing demonstrates the seriousness of such misconduct as well as the repeated nature of his failures to comply with his regulatory obligations”.
The decision is open to appeal.