Rashvinderjeet Panesar

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Barrister admitted two charges of professional misconduct for sending grossly offensive Instagram messages to a former partner (Person A) in early January 2021 to cause distress or anxiety. He had received a conditional police caution and self-referred to the BSB. The Tribunal found the conduct undermined his integrity (Rule 8) and was likely to diminish public trust (Core Duty 5), but no dishonesty was found. Given strong mitigation, he was reprimanded, no fine imposed, and ordered to pay £2,100 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Messages were grossly offensive in content and tone

Mitigating factors:

• Communications occurred during a toxic relationship breakdown affecting the Respondent
• Genuine and sincere apology
• Immediate self-report to and cooperation with the BSB
• Events occurred two and a half years earlier
• No previous disciplinary record and no repetition
• Conduct out of character and short-lived, not persistent
• Not placed in the public domain; product of a private dispute
• Period of low mood and heightened anxiety since recovered