Immigration: Barrister was out of his depth
A veteran barrister has been disbarred after a “prolonged period of incompetence” during which he operated from chambers condemned by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) as “disorganised and chaotic” as long ago as 2016.
A Bar disciplinary tribunal said that by 2019 it was clear that John McLanachan was “struggling to cope” and “out of his depth when it came to immigration cases”.
But “notwithstanding the continuing concerns” of the Bar Standards Board (BSB), his chambers continued to operate until 2023.
Other people “purporting to offer legal advice” were using his name and the name of his chambers on notepaper and on social media, all without consent, which continued even after the barrister had ceased to practise.
At three separate Upper Tribunal immigration hearings in 2019, the tribunal found that Mr McLanachan, working on a direct access basis, had “recklessly misled or attempted to mislead the court” on two occasions and “failed to provide a competent standard of work” when seeking a judicial review in the other.
The fact of his disbarment and the findings against the barrister were published by the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service in January but the full reasoning of the tribunal has only recently been released.
In it, the Bar disciplinary tribunal, chaired by Her Honour Janet Waddicor, said Mr McLanachan, now aged 70, was called to the Bar in 1980 and practised at the Hong Kong Bar between 1984 and 2002.
Returning to this country in 2006, he resumed practice in 2011, working as a sole practitioner from “modest premises” in East London. He obtained public access accreditation in 2012 and in 2014 was authorised to conduct litigation.
His practice was broad based and covered family, crime, commercial and immigration work.
Mr McLanachan ceased practice because of ill health in March 2023 and has continued to suffer poor health.
The tribunal said that as early as 2016 the BSB “became concerned about the organisation” of the barrister’s chambers and a supervision visit found it to be “disorganised and chaotic”.
The role and responsibilities in the chambers of ‘SH’ were a “cause for particular concern” as he appeared to be holding himself out as a barrister” when he was not.
Notwithstanding the BSB’s continuing concerns – having rated the chambers as high risk – it continued to operate until 2023.
Meanwhile, Mr McLanachan was “out of his depth when it came to immigration cases, but he accepted immigration work referrals from individuals he said he trusted including SH”.
The tribunal said the barrister “accepts that he made assumptions about SH’s background without checking his qualifications or professional status”, and “says he trusted SH and did not wish pry into the reasons why SH was not authorised to practise.
“He says he did not employ SH but allowed SH to draft applications and legal submissions which he later adopted. The paperwork relevant to the charges was at best incompetent and at worst incoherent.”
The tribunal quoted Judge Canavan, who heard Mr McLanachan’s judicial review application at the Upper Tribunal in April 2019, in saying the grounds were “overly lengthy, poorly pleaded and make general and sometimes incoherent submissions on human rights issues”.
His submissions on a particular Court of Appeal decision were “entirely incoherent and appeared to amount to an unparticularised assertion that the applicant should have an in-country right of appeal when he had none”.
Judge Canavan was “sufficiently concerned about the preparation of the case to question the respondent about his business relationship with SH and how the case had come to be prepared”.
The tribunal added: “We are aware that the respondent has said that he welcomes disbarment as it marks the end of an unhappy and stressful period in his life.
“However, we have reached our decision to disbar independently of the respondent’s view.”
It also ordered Mr McLanachan to pay costs of £3,500.
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