Sport

Leading Juniors

Leading juniors are those with significant experience of key cases, strong market recognition from both peers and clients, and are seen as future candidates for silk.

1
Lydia Banerjee
Littleton Chambers
‘A superb advocate, very sharp, and an outstanding leader for heavyweight sport employment disputes.'
1
Fiona Banks
Monckton Chambers
'Incredibly thorough - excellent written work and a delight to work with.'
1
Pippa Manby
4 New Square
‘Pippa is easy to work with and her advocacy is of the highest standard. With tricky cross examination you get an incisive edge. Pippa also has great commercial awareness and understood our case from the perspective of a sporting regulator.’
1
Ravi Mehta
Blackstone Chambers
‘Incredibly bright but wears the intelligence lightly with a very relaxed and relaxing manner. He is an absolute gent and very responsive - an instructing solicitor's dream.’
1
Tom Mountford
Blackstone Chambers
‘Tom is undoubtedly one of the most notable up and coming juniors practising at the sports Bar. He is adept at identifying the key issues in any case and focusing on them in both written advice and submission and orally. His advocacy style is calm and persuasive, backed been a forensic analysis of the evidence. He is also very astute in his tactical advice and has a very calm understated manner in dealing with clients.’
1
Kendrah Potts
4 New Square
‘Kendrah is a very experienced sports lawyer, with a significant amount of experience in sports corruption cases in a number of different sports. This breadth of experience means that she is able to use experiences obtained in one sport and apply that to similar situations in another. Kendrah is very easy to work with, she is precise, consistent and her attention to detail is top-notch.’
2
Luka Krsljanin
Blackstone Chambers
‘Luka is calm under pressure, has an excellent rapport with experts and witnesses and a tremendous command of the case.’
2
Ifeanyi Odogwu
Matrix Chambers
‘Ife has gone from being a very experienced member of sports disciplinary bodies to now developing an excellent specialist junior counsel's practice in the area.’
2
Zac Sammour
11KBW
‘Zac is a go-to for sports work, not least his skillset within the fields of employment, data protection and litigation. Very easy to work with, client friendly and helps clients to navigate choppy waters. Extremely bright and outshines a lot of more senior barristers. Diligent, always thoroughly prepared, he wipes the floor with his opponents. Zac is a brilliant tactician and works seamlessly with solicitor teams to provide timely pragmatic and commercial advice.’
3
Max Baines
Red Lion Chambers
‘Max is superb all-round. Sound, concise advice, excellent written work, authoritative before a court or tribunal and seriously effective cross-examination.’
3
Theo Barclay
4 New Square
‘Highly responsive and engaged. Provides sound advice and has a fantastic understanding of the nuances of sports law.’
3
Craig Harris
Furnival Chambers
3
Maurice Holmes
Crown Office Chambers
‘Maurice has a forensic mind, indefatigable work ethic, and leaves no stone unturned. He is one of the go-to juniors at the sports law Bar. He is one of the few barristers in the country who has real, on the ground knowledge of the sports sector having been a professional cricketer.’
3
Celia Rooney
Blackstone Chambers
‘Celia is a go-to barrister in the field of sport. She is down to earth, a great communicator and client-centric. These are critical qualities in any barrister but especially in her fields of work. The quality of her written work and advocacy is the cherry on the top.’
3
Shane Sibbel
Blackstone Chambers
‘Shane is tenacious and unafraid and an incredible issue-spotter and problem-solver. He has the ear of the court.’
3
Andrew Smith
11KBW
‘Very friendly, approachable and happy to help. Quickly grasped the complexity of the case but, rather than drowning in the legal issues, his advice was always very straightforward with a strong emphasis on the best commercial approach for the client.’
4
Steven Flynn
Littleton Chambers
He is excellent at cross-examination.’
4
Stuart Benzie
Radcliffe Chambers
4
William Clerk
2 Temple Gardens
‘Will has an excellent knowledge of the insurance and commercial issues arising in the sports sector. He is particularly sought after in motor, rugby and football cases on behalf of respondents. He combines first class legal knowledge with sophisticated strategic insights, which means that he is always in demand in sensitive and complex cases.‘
4
Amina Graham
2 Hare Court
‘Unrivalled knowledge of her field and a hugely impressive advocate – likeable, tough, hugely respectable and unflappable.’
4
William Harman
4 New Square
‘Will is a brilliant junior. Very easy to work with and has an easy, persuasive drafting style.’
4
Hollie Higgins
Blackstone Chambers
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4
Thomas Horton
3 Hare Court
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4
Diarmuid Laffan
4 New Square
‘Quick to pick up the key issues and facts, Dairmuid has strong cross-examination skills - firm and coherent oral submissions with an understated authority.’
4
Alexandra Littlewood
Monckton Chambers
4
David Lowe
Blackstone Chambers
‘A go to sports disputes junior and genuine subject matter expert, whilst also being extremely user friendly.’
4
Will Martin
2 Hare Court
‘Will is an excellent advocate, in football related matters ahead of many silks.’
4
Jessica van der Meer
2 Temple Gardens
‘Jessica is a rising star of the sports law Bar. She is extremely diligent and committed to every case. She always goes the extra-mile for her clients.’
4
Yasin Patel
Church Court Chambers
‘Yasin is very good at simplifying the complex legal issues at hand in negotiations and provides a strong excellent legal context to our commercial affairs. His negotiating skills are impressive as he can achieve many concessions on our behalf despite a very obvious power imbalance between the negotiating parties, with us being in the weaker position.’
4
Sebastian Purnell
Devereux
‘Sebastian exudes gravitas and is extremely clever. He is head and shoulders above many barristers more senior than him in terms of strategic judgement, preparation, and persuasiveness.’
4
Chris Saad
2 Bedford Row
4
Max Shephard
4-5 Gray’s Inn Square
‘Clear analysis and articulation of details. Professional and measured.’
4
Natasha Simonsen
Blackstone Chambers
‘Natasha is clever, straightforward, persuasive, and a pleasure to deal with. Judges trust her and she has the advocate's skill of making everything she says appear obvious and impossible to rebut.’
4
Adam Taylor
Crown Office Chambers
He is also very accessible and extremely hard-working.’

Rising stars

Rising stars at the Bar are defined as barristers between four and eight years’ call who are seen as up-and-coming members of the Bar in their respective practice areas by clients and peers alike. They will already be instructed in high-profile, complex, and high-value contentious and non-contentious matters, working with and opposite more experienced leading counsel.

1
Samuel Cuthbert
4 New Square Chambers
‘Sam is an outstanding and persuasive advocate. His knowledge of the law and the detail of each case is comprehensive, and means he can run rings around the opposition. He has strategic insight far beyond his year of call.’