A barrister has been prohibited from practising in Ireland by the High Court for not holding a mandatory professional indemnity insurance policy.
High Court president Judge David Barniville this week said it was “astonishing” that barrister Joseph Sallabi decided not to take out a policy for which he was quoted an annual premium of €235 in March, shortly after the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) initiated its proceedings against him over the insurance issue. He said many multiples of that amount has been spent on litigation instead.
The judge granted orders sought by the LSRA prohibiting Sallabi from providing legal services in the State, but noted that it seemed the deficiency arising in the case “could easily be remedied” by Sallabi’s taking out a policy.
The judge was also critical of “bizarre”, “extraordinary” and “unsubstantiated” allegations advanced by Sallabi in the proceedings, levelled at the LSRA, the authority’s lawyers, lawyers representing parties in separate litigation he is involved in, and a High Court judge.
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Sallabi’s “utterly irresponsible and baseless” allegations against a solicitor at the firm representing the LSRA – who, the judge noted, left the firm during the course of the authority’s proceeding against the barrister – “reached the nadir”, Barniville said.
At the High Court this week, Barnville outlined his decision following the LSRA’s application to prohibit Sallabi, and indicated he would hand down his full judgment in the case next month.
In the proceedings, Sallabi, who was called to the Irish bar in October 2023, submitted that he registered with the Brussels bar association in early 2025, and had subscribed to the association’s insurance policy. This policy, Sallabi maintained, met his obligations for the purposes of providing legal services in Ireland.
Sallabi’s case also relied on guarantees under European Union legislation providing for the freedom of lawyers to provide services within the bloc.
Sallabi represented himself in the proceedings.
The judge said he was satisfied the Brussels bar policy did not cover Sallabi to provide services in Ireland. He said Sallabi “fundamentally misunderstood” EU provisions on the freedom to provide legal services.
The judge said Sallabi’s explanation for not taking out the policy quoted at €235 a year was “baffling, contradictory and makes absolutely no sense”.
Sallabi told the court he did not take out the policy because, he alleged, it would facilitate claims against him by certain persons and their legal advisers in other litigation he is involved in, and was concerned that future premiums quoted to him would be unaffordable.
The judge said: “[Sallabi] has spent many multiples of that amount [€235] responding to the authority’s application and has caused the authority to incur what are no doubt very substantial costs in engaging external solicitors and counsel to act for it in this application.
“This whole exercise is a scandalous waste of time and money by Mr Sallabi,” he said.
The judge made the orders sought by the LSRA on a temporary basis, with a view to making them permanent when he delivers his full judgment.
In a separate dispute over the control of the company behind the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, Sallabi is being pursued for legal costs incurred by directors of the company in the case, which was withdrawn by a former client of Sallabi’s in December.
The directors of the Al Maktoum Foundation seek their costs in circumstances where affidavits − which were prepared by Sallabi − submitted to the court advanced allegations of corporate criminality against the men.
The claims − which were unproven and withdrawn − were described by Judge David Nolan as “of most serious kind” he had come across.
