We work hard to maintain and improve our service standards and we are committed to providing a consistently exceptional service to all our clients. We have developed and adhere to a number of service standards to ensure that we routinely deliver an exceptional service to our clients.

When you contact Chambers to book Counsel, we will advise you if the barrister of your choice has an existing commitment and establish your wishes as to the use of alternative Counsel. If you don’t have a barrister of preferred choice then we will discuss the matter with you and suggest one to you. Should you wish to double book your preferred choice of Counsel, we will keep you informed as to the likely availability as the court date approaches so that you may re-assess your options.

In the event that a case settles or is adjourned prior to the hearing, we ask that you inform us at the earliest opportunity so that the booking can be removed from the barrister’s diary.

Counsel will check papers within 48 hours of receipt to ensure that there are no immediately obvious conflicts of interest. In such cases the Clerks will immediately advise you of the same and suggest alternative Counsel.

It is vital to the smooth and effective handling of a case that we have sufficient time to prepare for court appearances and conferences. Many cases now require skeleton arguments to be lodged in advance of the hearing so it is therefore essential that instructions are sent giving ample time for preparation.

It is our policy that all written work should be completed within 14 days of receipt. This standard will be applied unless you agree to an alternative deadline appropriate to your case. Any such agreement will be recorded on our computer system so that we can monitor progress against our commitment to you.

In addition to the requirements set our in the Bar Handbook on acknowledgement of briefs and instructions we will:

Acknowledge in writing the receipt of instructions within 48 hours of their arrival in chambers.

Ensure that where a particular counsel has been instructed the brief is brought to his or her attention within 24 hours of its arrival.

Our clerks and barristers will return telephone calls and emails from instructing solicitors within 24 hours.

Ensure the attendance of briefed counsel at all hearings of the case wherever possible.

In the event of listing difficulties we will notify those instructing as soon as we can and do everything we can to provide alternative counsel. Should it be necessary for a trial brief to be returned to different counsel, the ‘new’ counsel will make immediate contact with those instructing to discuss the case. In the unlikely event of our being unable to supply counsel from our chambers we will assist in finding other suitable representation.

A court attendance note will be emailed to instructing solicitors following every hearing.

Submit all appeal documentation within 14 days of the receipt of written requests (7 days for appeals from the Magistrates Courts), and in any event within the statutory time limits.

On receipt of briefs and/or instructions the client will be informed of the basis upon which fees will be charged and the time-scale within which the barrister expects to complete the work

Any individual arrangements are logged on the diary system and the Clerks check that there is no apparent conflict of interest.

A Client Care Acknowledgement letter is sent to notify the client that the brief has been received, logged on the system and the papers put before Counsel. The acknowledgment letter also confirms the case reference number and name of barrister dealing with the case.

We are in regular contact with those who instruct us, but we regret that the Bar Handbook prevents us from entering into any form of correspondence with lay clients if we are instructed by a solicitor unless the client has instructed us through Public Access. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but our lack of response is our compliance with the Bar Handbook and should not be viewed as discourteous.