Sydney barrister Charles Waterstreet has been banned from practice after the New South Wales (NSW) Bar Association found an undischarged bankrupt had failed to show he was a ‘fit and proper person’ to hold a practising certificate. According to a Sydney Morning Herald report, on 27 June, the association's governing body, the Bar Council, resolved to cancel Waterstreet's practising certificate. The decision came weeks after it exercised urgent powers to suspend him temporarily from practice over a complaint about his conduct. The suspension took effect at midnight on 14 June. The criminal barrister had launched NSW Supreme Court proceedings against the association in a bid to overturn his suspension. He discontinued the case on 5 July after his practising certificate was cancelled. The cancellation related to bankruptcy, according to the register of disciplinary action maintained by the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner. Waterstreet declared bankruptcy in March last year after he was ordered by the NSW District Court to pay more than US$295 000 to the Australian Taxation Office. Barristers are required by law to notify the Bar Association within seven days of an 'automatic show-cause' event, which includes bankruptcy. Waterstreet has been at the centre of a series of controversies in recent years including allegations of sexual harassment made against him by a number of female paralegals. Waterstreet has vehemently denied the allegations.