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  1. South Eastern Circuit – Leading Sets
  2. Annexes

The geographical size of the South Eastern Circuit means that practitioners operate in distinct local Bars. Pallant Chambers is ‘one of the best chambers in the south’, providing ‘an excellent service’. Fenners Chambers offers impressive family and personal injury counsel, and East Anglian Chambers has a strong all-round offering. Westgate Chambers’ criminal team is highly recommended, and Regency Chambers is strong on family matters. Guildford Chambers and Crown Office Row are solid sets. 6 Pump Court, 3PB and 18 Red Lion Court, Chelmsford Annexe are well-regarded annexes.

Commercial and Chancery

East Anglian Chambers’ Stephen Goodfellow is ‘tactically skilled and approachable’ with ‘an attention to detail that is second to none’. Philip Capon is recommended for commercial and insolvency matters, and Simon Redmayne has a significant commercial litigation practice.

Pallant Chambers’ Clifford Darton is praised for his ‘fresh eye for detail’. Richard Egleton is recommended for his Chancery work. Christopher Wilkins recently joined from 11 Stone Buildings.

Guildford Chambers’ Gregory Tee is ‘prepared to go the extra mile in all his cases’.

3PB’s James Davies is ‘very approachable and quickly grasps the facts of the case at an early stage’. He is recommended for insolvency matters.

Crime

At Westgate Chambers, Jeffrey Lamb ‘consistently demonstrates sound judgement and an excellent standard of case preparation’, and Philip Meredith is ‘fearless in court’. Nicholas Howard Hamblin is ‘extremely experienced in sexual cases’, Rhiannon Sadler has ‘a strong work ethic and excellent organisational skills’, and Henry Spooner is ‘excellent at cross-examination’. Tayo Adebayo, Jonathan Edwards and Sarah Lindop are also highly recommended.

Crown Office Row’s ‘great team’ includes the ‘very approachable’ Rowan Jenkins, Christine Henson, and Francesca Lewington, who demonstrates ‘a willingness to work hard on clients’ behalf at all times’.

At Lamb Building (Brighton), Lewis Power QC, Jeremy Wainwright and Andrew Selby all have significant criminal practices.

Eastbourne Chambers’ Julian Dale undertakes criminal defence work. Rebecca Upton is also recommended.

East Anglian Chambers’ Richard Kelly’s heavyweight practice covers serious violent offence, fraud and drugs cases. Rex Bryan is noted for his animal welfare practice, including RSPCA prosecutions. Lynne Shirley has a substantial court martial practice.

18 Red Lion Court, Chelmsford Annexe’s Martyn Levett is ‘a totally dedicated workhorse in all fields of criminal law’. Jane Oldfield is ‘extremely hardworking, focused and effective’; and Steven Dyble, David Wilson and Patricia Lynch QC handle serious sexual offence, drugs and homicide cases. Christopher Paxton ‘can turn his hand to any type of case’, and Samantha Leigh is ‘a go-to barrister for clients facing charges of a sexual nature’.

Octagon House’s Guy Ayers and Michael Clare are well regarded for crime matters.

At Fenners Chambers, Mike Magee handles fraud instructions, and Lawrence Bruce has a broad criminal practice.

One Paper Buildings’ Karim Khalil QC handles large-scale VAT and tax fraud cases, Stephen Spence has a specialism in aviation matters, and Angela Rafferty is recommended for serious sexual offence cases. Stephen Harvey QC recently joined the set from 18 Red Lion Court, Chelmsford Annexe. Gregory Perrins is also recommended.

6 Pump Court’s ‘professional, accessible and very good lawyers’ include Oliver Saxby, who has ‘the ability to get swiftly to the real point of the case’; Richard Barraclough QC, who has a broad practice; and Peter Gower QC, who is developing a significant regulatory practice. John O’Higgins handles homicide, drugs and fraud cases.

At 1 King’s Bench Walk At Lewes, Camden Pratt QC covers the full spectrum of criminal offences, including health and safety and fraud matters.

Employment

At East Anglian Chambers, Neil Ashley is ‘commercially minded and responsive to clients ’ needs’, Paul Strelitz ‘quickly gets to grips with the substance at the heart of the matter’, and Richard Wood is ‘extremely professional and knowledgeable’.

Guildford Chambers’ Matthew Pascall is recommended for unfair dismissal and discrimination work. Highlights included acting in the high-profile case Rustamova v The Governing Body of Calder High School.

At Pallant Chambers, the ‘very pragmatic’ William Emerson ‘clearly evaluates the relevant facts and identifies the key elements of a case’. Marc Living and Evan Turnill handle discrimination and TUPE matters.

At 6 Pump Court, Gordon Menzies has particular experience in redundancy work, as well as stress-at-work cases.

Family

Fenners Chambers’ ‘particularly impressive’ family team includes Simon Tattersall, who is ‘peerless in the region for high-net-worth matrimonial finance matters’; and Susan Espley, who is ‘highly regarded in the care field’ and ‘gives very good advice at an early stage’. Nick Davies is ‘able to deal sympathetically with all clients’, and Lindsay Davies is ‘a class leader in this area’.

Regency Chambers’ family group is ‘always excellent, very well prepared and extremely good in conference’. Nigel Sleight is ‘willing to go that extra mile’, and Margot Elliott is ‘an experienced and highly skilled advocate’. Ian Martignetti has particular expertise in cases involving residence or contact issues, and Anita Thind is ‘an instantly likeable and very capable advocate’. Gemma Chapman ‘will fight her client’s corner’.

At Trinity Chambers, Tina Harrington is highly regarded for her ancillary relief practice, and Andrew Bailey is recommended for his ‘excellent advocacy and gravitas’. Josephine Spratt-Dawson is highly regarded for her ancillary relief expertise, and Tiffany Wilkinson is also recommended.

Octagon House’s family team includes the highly recommended Robert Aldous, Jeremy Dugdale, Anthony Kefford, and Katharine Bundell.

East Anglian Chambers’ Dominic Barratt and Richard O’Sullivan handle high-value, complex family matters. Andrew Marsden is recommended for ancillary relief work, and Caroline Bryant handles matters involving children.

Crown Office Row’s clients praise the ‘excellent barristers and efficient clerking team’. James King-Smith is ‘technically very able’, and Adam Smith is ‘highly regarded on Children Act cases’. Pegah Sharghy is ‘approachable and always well prepared’, and Jane Peckham is ‘very knowledgeable in the area of family finance’.

Pallant Chambers fields ‘dedicated counsel who provide high-quality advice and representation’. Lucinda Davis, Rosein Magee, Sarah Earley and Kelly Ward all provide ‘a very intuitive, professional service and are knowledgeable in the field of care proceedings’. Mary Loosemore - is ‘an extremely capable counsel’ and Neil Maton is ‘extremely good on financial and Children Act cases’. Wendy Rowlinson ‘leaves no stone unturned’. Colin Morgan is recommended for children work.

Westgate Chambers’ barristers ‘excel in family work’. Duncan Watson has ‘a creative and outcome-focused approach’; and Carol McMillan is ‘capable of dealing with complex Children Act matters’. Maria Hancock is expereinced in children work.

Guildford Chambers’ Janet Haywood is ‘particularly skilful in children matters’, Christine Julien is recommended for her care work, and George Coates has particular expertise in ancillary relief matters.

1 King’s Bench Walk At Lewes fields a number of impressive family specialists, including Barry Singleton QC and Deborah Eaton QC. Deepak Nagpal is recommended for matrimonial finance matters.

Harcourt Chambers’ Frances Judd QC is ‘calm under pressure and displays great empathy with clients’; and Jonathan Sampson is ‘an exceptionally good barrister who inspires trust and confidence’. Nicholas Goodwin has a significant children-based practice, and Aidan Vine is recommended for family cases with an international aspect.

Personal injury and clinical negligence

Fenners Chambers’ Paul Hollow handles the full range of personal injury work, including road traffic accident and accident at work cases. Roderick Spinks is also recommended for personal injury work.

Pallant Chambers’ barristers ‘are always approachable, helpful and good at what they do’. Kevin Haven has ‘a solid and sensible approach’, and Charles Taylor gives ‘clear and positive advice to clients’. Elinor Hoile is also recommended.

East Anglian Chambers ‘provides an efficient and reliable service’. Shona Harvey handles a range of personal injury claims for claimants and defendants. Stephen Goodfellow provides ‘sound advice’.

At Crown Office Row, personal injury specialist Stuart Wright ‘takes a pragmatic and realistic approach to cases’.

Property, planning and environmental

Crown Office Row provides a ‘very knowledgeable and highly professional’ service. Environmental specialist Francesca Lewington is recommended for her ‘excellent client-handling and skilled advocacy’. Simon Sinnatt’s ‘acumen and knowledge in relation to property matters is second to none’, and Ghulam Hussain ‘gives straightforward and sound advice’. Paul Ashwell and Stuart Wright are also recommended.

Fenners Chambers’ Alasdair Wilson delivers ‘consistently good results’, and Bruce Monnington ‘can grasp the most technical of briefs very clearly and rapidly’. Daniel Owen has a particular specialism in marine public law. Andrew Gore and Timothy Williams are recommended for property matters.

At East Anglian Chambers, head of chambers Graham Sinclair has a significant property practice, spanning landlord and tenant law, boundaries and easements and trusts of land.

Pallant Chambers’ Clifford Darton is ‘one of those rare barristers who is as strong on his feet as in drafting advice and pleadings’. Kevin Pain is ‘a commercial and steely advocate’.

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