A former BBC barrister who was representing the ex-MI6 agent behind the notorious ‘Trump dossier’ has been struck off for forging a judge’s signature.
Nicola Cain, 39, was acting for Christopher Steele, when he was being sued by Russian businessman, Aleksej Gubarev.
Mr Steele had named him in the document about Russian leverage over the former president, which was disclosed by Buzzfeed in 2017.
But the Russian’s lawyers accused Mr Steele of failing to properly disclose documents to them at the hearing.
When the documents, including a witness statement, were finally provided, Cain did not show it to Mr Steele – and signed for it on his behalf.
She then gave Mr Steele a faked court order to cover up the fact his legal team had been ordered by a High Court judge to disclose the information within 14 days.
Nicola Cain, 39, had been acting for ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele at the time of forgery
Gavin Millar, QC, had told the hearing Mr Steele (pictured) and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, were the ‘blameless victims of serious professional failure’ by Nicola Cain
Cain cut-and-pasted the judge’s signature on the document, the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service heard.
Gavin Millar, QC, had told the hearing Mr Steele and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, were the ‘blameless victims of serious professional failure’ by Cain, who was then working for City firm RPC.
Mr Gubarev’s defamation claim against Mr Steele was dismissed in October 2020.
James Counsell, QC, for Cain, said she was overwhelmed by her workload and found herself ‘firefighting by just dealing with the matter which was most urgent.’
Her health deteriorated to the point where she would sob at her desk.
Ms Cain, a former Times ‘lawyer of the week’, reported herself to the Bar Standards Board on 13 May 2020 after she withdrew from the case.
Ms Cain was defending him in defamation suit brought by Russian Aleksej Gubarev (pictured)
Mr Steele is best known for notorious ‘Trump dossier’ about the US ex-president (pictured)
Tribunal chair Judge Alan Greenwood said: ‘Everybody is entitled to expect that an order of the court is a genuine document, and not a fabricated one, and the extent of the fabrication is very real.
‘To fabricate a court order, one can’t imagine that a barrister would do that, or countenance that a barrister would do that.
‘If a barrister does that, it is high dishonesty indeed.
‘It wasn’t fleeting, it was not momentary, it was a course of conduct.’
‘This is a court order, the signature of a senior Master of the High Court, and that document was being fabricated in order to mislead the client.’
Cain told the tribunal in a written statement: ‘I wish to make absolutely clear, at the outset, that I accept, as I did in the self-report which I submitted to the SRA and to the BSB, that within a short space of time I made a series of very serious errors of judgment and, in doing so, I let down my client, my colleagues and fellow partners, the firm, the profession and myself.
‘I am profoundly and sincerely sorry for my conduct, which I wish I could put right.
‘I regret it every day and I acknowledge the severity of that conduct.
‘Nothing I say in this statement is seeking to diminish the seriousness of my misconduct.
‘I have publicly issued a profuse apology for my conduct, as well as apologising to the firm, and I wish to repeat that apology now.’
Cain, called to the bar in July 2005, admitted failing to act in the best interests of a client, failing to act with honesty and integrity and failing to provide a competent standard of work to a client.
She also admitted behaving in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in a barrister or in the profession and failing to observe her duty to the court in the administration of justice.
Cain worked as a barrister in the litigation department at the BBC before she moved to RPC’s highly regarded media practice in 2017.
She was disbarred and ordered to pay £5,900 costs.