Dominic D'Souza

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

Barrister Dominic D'Souza admitted three charges of professional misconduct arising from an incident on 29 March 2023 when, during a lunchtime break in a criminal trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, he consumed alcohol (brandy) directly from a bottle while seated in his car in the court car park. He was covertly filmed, and a complaint (including more serious, unproven and apparently false allegations) was made to the judge, leading to his withdrawal from the trial and discharge of the jury. The Tribunal found his culpability low (he believed himself unobserved, drank very little, and was unwell) and that no definable harm flowed from the culpable act, since the trial collapse was attributable to the false allegation. He was fined £1,000 on each of the three charges and ordered to pay £2,670 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Avoid wasting the court's time
• No conflict between current clients
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Respondent's seniority and experience
• Failure to offer factual admissions earlier (delay in providing the account that ultimately resolved the case)

Mitigating factors:

• One-off incident occurring when the Respondent was unwell; low future risk
• Drank only when his trial responsibilities were minimal and his prior court performance showed no impairment (indeed was impressive)
• The disciplinary process, which included more serious allegations until recently, had a significant adverse professional and personal impact

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_fine_amount=3000"]