Mr Sidhu was struck off by the Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service after being found guilty of inappropriate behaviour towards a young woman during a mini-pupillage. Three of 15 charges were proved in relation to one complainant, identified as Person 2, and a five-person disciplinary panel voted by a majority of three to two to impose the sanction of disbarment.

Mr Sidhu appealed on the basis that the tribunal had erred in law when assessing the seriousness of his conduct and that disbarment was a disproportionate outcome.

Dismissing the appeal in Sidhu v Bar Standards Board, Mr Justice Choudhury held that the tribunal had been entitled to conclude that Mr Sidhu had abused his seniority and standing at the bar.

He said: “The misconduct in this case did not result from an unwise, spontaneous and consensual sexual encounter in a hotel. This was misconduct that involved a senior silk and prominent member of the bar using his position effectively to pressurise a young female mini pupil into a compromising situation in order to gratify his own sexual desires.

“The tribunal was entitled, as a specialist panel of the professional regulator, to view such conduct as particularly serious and not adequately addressed by anything less than the indicative sanction of disbarment.”

The judge rejected the argument that the decision was flawed or excessive, stating that it “cannot be said to be one that was ‘clearly inappropriate’ or wrong. Accordingly, it is not a decision with which this court can or should interfere”.

Mr Justice Choudhury noted that the tribunal had taken account of Mr Sidhu’s “successful career at the bar and his contribution to the profession (and implicitly the public interest in not ending the career of such a person)”. However, he said it was entitled to conclude that those factors did not outweigh “the public interest in maintaining confidence in the profession”, alongside the need to uphold standards and deter misconduct.

All four grounds of appeal were dismissed, meaning Mr Sidhu remains disbarred.

A BSB spokesperson said: “We are thankful to the witnesses who had the courage to come forward and without which we could not have taken enforcement action in this case.”

He added that the judgment “upholds the independent tribunal’s decision that there is no place for such conduct at the bar. We would encourage others experiencing similar behaviour in the profession to come forward and report this to us.”