Barrister jailed for crash death can return to law

A barrister who was jailed for causing the death of a pensioner in a crash can return to practising law, a High Court judge has ruled.

Hamish Hickey, 42, was on the school run when he crashed into Michael Lupton's car on a rural road near Ampleforth in North Yorkshire, on 26 July 2022.

Hickey was jailed for 23 months at York Crown Court in November 2024 after admitting causing the death of the 84-year-old. He was released on licence last August.

In November, a disciplinary tribunal suspended the barrister from working for professional misconduct until 30 September 2026, when the custodial sentence expires. Hickey challenged the decision at the High Court, which ruled in his favour.

His lawyers told a hearing on Tuesday that the suspension was "clearly inappropriate" and that the tribunal did not take into account the "powerful" mitigating factors in the case.

Hickey admitted one count of professional misconduct at the tribunal, which stated he "engaged in conduct which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession".

In its decision, the tribunal said that Hickey's "bitter remorse is plain" but that public confidence in barristers would be "damaged" if he were not suspended until the end of his sentence.

However, Marc Beaumont, for Hickey, told the High Court: "The prison sentence has been de facto 'served', as there is no prospect of a return to custody in the case of a barrister who is disqualified from driving and who has conducted himself impeccably and with dignity and respect throughout the affair."

Lawyers for the Bar Standards Board (BSB), which regulates barristers, told the hearing in London that the decision was "neither wrong nor unjust".

Mrs Justice Dias ruled that the tribunal "erred in law and in principle" when suspending Hickey, and gave "no explanation of what it was trying to achieve" through the decision.

She said: "On an objective basis, the sanction imposed by the tribunal was clearly inappropriate, manifestly disproportionate and outside the bounds of what could have been imposed in this case."

She added that while "nothing can take away from the grief and loss of Mr Lupton's family", the role of tribunals "is not to punish" and that the case was one of "tragedy, rather than deliberate conduct".

The High Court judge ordered that Hickey face no separate penalty for the misconduct, meaning he can return to work.

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