Indian-Origin KC Anurag Mohindru Wins Appeal Over Oxford Degree Lie

Indian-origin King's Counsel Anurag Mohindru , 51, has been cleared to resume practice as a barrister after the UK High Court replaced his disbarment with a fixed suspension that expired on June 30, 2026, in a case involving false claims that he had studied medicine at the University of Oxford . The court upheld the finding of professional misconduct but ruled that permanent exclusion from the Bar was disproportionate given the age of the misconduct and his subsequent professional record.

Mohindru was disbarred last year after an independent tribunal found that he had acted dishonestly by providing false information on his curriculum vitae while applying for tenancy at 23 Essex Street Chambers in November 2012. The Bar Standards Board (BSB) alleged that he knowingly misled the chambers by claiming to have studied biomedical science and medicine at Oxford, despite never attending the university.

Justice Johnson observed that the public could distinguish between recent or repeated dishonesty and misconduct committed many years earlier that had not recurred. He said public confidence could be maintained through a sanction reflecting the seriousness of the offence without permanently excluding a practitioner from the profession. The High Court stressed that the dishonesty finding remained intact and only the punishment was reduced.

The court heard that Mohindru had studied medicine at St George's University in the United States before completing Bar training at the University of the West of England in Bristol and being called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 2004. Updated BSB records show he was suspended from October 7, 2025, to June 30, 2026. Earlier disciplinary proceedings had also ordered him to pay about £54,780 in legal costs. Mohindru has appeared in several high-profile cases, including representing England cricketer Ben Stokes following the 2018 Bristol nightclub incident.