Disbarred Local Barrister In Court over 'False Claim' to H&F Council
Court hears 'homeless' McCarthy had actually been evicted from Askew Road flat
However, Katrina McCarthy, 41, had actually been evicted from a property in Askew Road in Shepherd's Bush for not paying her rent.
Isleworth Crown Court heard that she contacted H&F Council in August 2015 claiming she was destitute and sent three bank statements and a letter pretending they were from Santander bank.
McCarthy denies two charges of fraud and a further allegation of sending counterfeit bank statements and letters to the council.
She was granted unconditional bail by Judge Phillip Matthews and is now due to stand trial on 11 March next year.
On her Linkedin page, McCarthy describes herself as a director/barrister at law with McCarthy's Legal Services Consultancy, run from premises at 144 Avenue Road in Acton, pictured here.
She was called to the bar in 2004. However in 2016 she was disbarred after she represented a client in court without a practising certificate and pretended to the judge that she had been instructed by a solicitor to appear in the proceedings.
She was caught out at Hammersmith County Court when the judge asked her to produce a computer to prove she was acting on behalf of solicitors.
McCarthy was found to have ‘knowingly’ exercised a right of audience to which she was not entitled between October 2014 and March 2015.
A bar disciplinary tribunal heard that during the proceedings she represented a defendant at an interim hearing and then a final hearing against the Metropolitan Police. During this time she did not have a PC or authorisation to provide legal services.
The tribunal noted that she failed to report her 'serious misconduct' to the Bar Standards Board, and then did not provide the regulator with information in connection to an investigation into a complaint against her.
The tribunal ruled that McCarthy should be disbarred and fined £2,400.
Following the tribunal the Bar Standards Board said: " Unregistered barrister Katrina McCarthy was ordered to be disbarred on Monday by an independent disciplinary tribunal, for dishonesty and misleading the court by stating she was a practising barrister when she was not.
"Ms McCarthy has never completed pupillage and therefore has never held a practising certificate.
"In addition to the order for disbarment, Ms McCarthy was fined £1000 for carrying out a reserved legal activity without a valid practising certificate, £400 for not reporting herself to the BSB, and £1000 for not cooperating with the BSB investigation.
"The misconduct took place at Hammersmith County Court, while Ms McCarthy acted for a vulnerable defendant, between 7 October 2014 and 21 March 2015. She signed into the Court's register as a barrister on several occasions when not entitled to do so."
BSB Director of Professional Conduct Sara Jagger said: "Practising without a valid practising certificate poses an unacceptable risk to the public. Ms McCarthy's repeated dishonesty is clearly incompatible with membership of the Bar and the decision of the Tribunal reflects this."
August 20, 2018
