Barry Harwood

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

Mr Barry John Harwood, a barrister, made three false allegations to the BSB against SF (his line manager), concerning homophobia (use of the word "husband"), race discrimination (a nickname for AN), and comments about the 9/11 attacks (relating to DT). The Tribunal found, applying the Ivey test, that Harwood knew each allegation was false and acted dishonestly. Charges 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were found proven (Charge 2, pleaded in the alternative, did not require a separate decision). Proceedings were heard in his absence. The conduct was deliberate, sustained and harmful. With no exceptional circumstances and no evidence of remorse or insight, the Panel ordered disbarment plus costs of £5,544.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report
• No conflict between current clients
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate and sustained conduct
• Harmful to all concerned, particularly SF the main target, and also upsetting/worrying to VBS, AN and DT
• No evidence of remorse or insight, suggesting risk of repetition could not be ignored

Mitigating factors:

• No disciplinary record
• Some evidence of positive contributions to the profession and community