Cloth Fair Chambers > London, England > Set Profile

Cloth Fair Chambers
39-40 CLOTH FAIR
LONDON
EC1A 7NT
England

Email firm Visit website 020 7710 6444

London Bar > Business and regulatory crime (including global investigations) Tier 1

Well-versed in multi-jurisdictional work, Cloth Fair Chambers is lauded for its expertise in all aspects of bribery, corruption, money laundering, and insider dealing as part of the set’s varied caseload, which frequently extends to the intersection of criminal and civil law. Tom Allen KC is highlighted for acting for the lead defendant in R (SFO) v Cook, Mason, proceedings regarding charges of corruption in relation to military contracts related to work carried out for the Saudi Arabian National Guard, which included allegations about the involvement of senior UK politicians and civil servants. Stuart Biggs represents a director pre-charge in the SFO investigation into the collapse of London Capital & Finance, while Robert Dacre joined the set in March 2024 from 2 Hare Court, and prosecutes for the London Borough of Hillingdon in a case related to infringement of the copyright of a number of leading brands. Rhys Meggy arrived in May 2023 from QEB Hollis Whiteman.

Leading Silks

Nicholas Purnell KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Nick is a titan of the criminal Bar. He has been involved in most of the big business crime cases, and therefore has an outstanding feel for the dynamics and strategic considerations.’

Ranked: Tier 1

Ian Winter KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Fearless and compelling advocate, brilliant in court has the ear of judge and jury. Great strategist, huge drive and intellectual stamina. A great leader in this field.’

Ranked: Tier 1

Tom Allen KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Tom is knowledgeable, clear in his advice and strategic in his thinking. The additional benefit is that he regularly defends individuals in business crime cases so he has an excellent insight into the defence arguments to run.’

Ranked: Tier 1

Alison Pople KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Alison is an absolute pleasure to work with. Her meticulous preparation and advocacy style put her up there with the very best. She is a great tactician and leads the team in a very collegiate way. She commands the utmost trust from clients.’

Ranked: Tier 1

John Kelsey-Fry KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Clients are yet to encounter a silk who has JKF’s work ethic, depth of perception and judgement. He is also an excellent jury advocate.’

Ranked: Tier 1

Jonathan Barnard KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Jonathan is unquestionably one of the best financial crime lawyers in the City. His casebook is the envy of the market and he is renowned for his razor-sharp instinct, ferocious intelligence and magnetic delivery. When he speaks, clients listen, and they love him for his excellent judgement, his tactical insights and his pitch-perfect advice.’

Ranked: Tier 3

Leading Juniors

Rachel Kapila – Cloth Fair Chambers

Ranked: Tier 1

Rhys Meggy – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘One of the leading practitioners in the highly competitive field business, regulatory crime and fraud. He is an excellent advocate with immense presence in court, respected by the bench and his opponents. He has a wonderful manner that comes with a confidence borne from exposure to the most challenging work.’

Ranked: Tier 2

Stuart Biggs – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘There is no issue that Stuart can't or won't turn his hand to. A particular strength of his is his interest in and enthusiasm for technical and esoteric issues, especially cases involving emerging technologies and applying them to older legislation.’

Ranked: Tier 2

Robert Dacre – Cloth Fair Chambers 'Rob is an outstanding junior, destined to be a true star of the bar. He is vastly intelligent, totally committed and hugely industrious. He has a strategic sense way beyond his years. His advocacy is charismatic, creative and compelling.'

Ranked: Tier 3

Testimonials

‘Hiring Dean Brown is a super development and a great indication as to Cloth Fair’s future ambitions. They are an approachable clerks room.’

‘They are all very user friendly and client service focused.’

‘Strong and responsive clerking team.’

‘The clerks have always been helpful and efficient.’

‘Helpful and professional clerks’ room.’

‘Clear and efficient.’

‘Cloth Fair has no equal in terms of bench strength in this area.’

‘Cloth Fair has an unrivalled panel of the top KCs in criminal law who are all at the top of their game. Chambers has recruited a number of juniors in the last year who will assist in providing strength in depth across junior and senior counsel.’

London Bar > Fraud: crime Tier 2

Cloth Fair Chambers stands out as ‘an undisputed heavyweight‘ in the fraud and financial crime space. John Kelsey-Fry KC has an excellent reputation for being ‘one of the most persuasive advocates at the Bar‘. Rhys Meggy stands out as ‘one of the very top junior barristers of his generation‘. Stuart Biggs is another highly regarded junior in the financial crime field, with a solid track record in appearing for both the defence and the prosecution. In recent work for the set, Biggs is defending the manager of an Iranian-owned money exchange business against allegations of money laundering and using part of the money for the sale and purchase of Bitcoin. In a key development for chambers, Dean Brown joined the set as Head of Practice Management in July 2024.

Leading Silks

John Kelsey-Fry KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘John is strategic, supremely committed to his client’s best interests, and has an astonishing work ethic. A massively bright silk in fraud law.'

Ranked: Tier 1

Ian Winter KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Ian is an outstanding barrister. He has a tremendous eye for detail and his preparation for cases is first class.'

Ranked: Tier 1

Alison Pople KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Alison is one of a kind – a hugely able and intelligent silk who works incredibly hard, yet has a wonderfully witty, unflappable and approachable manner that makes her a true pleasure to work with and joy to watch in court. Her tactical nous and feel for what will land well with a tribunal is remarkably astute and her cross-examination skills are adroit.’

Ranked: Tier 2

Nicholas Purnell KC – Cloth Fair Chambers

Ranked: Tier 2

Leading Juniors

Rhys Meggy – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Rhys is an extremely hard-working, clever and eloquent barrister. He takes a lot of care with every case to ensure that everything he does is completed to the highest possible standards. A top junior barrister.’

Ranked: Tier 1

Stuart Biggs – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Stuart is an outstanding advocate, an exceptional lawyer and a devastating cross-examiner of experts.’

Ranked: Tier 1

Rachel Kapila – Cloth Fair Chambers

Ranked: Tier 2

Testimonials

‘Cloth Fair has an unrivalled panel of the top KCs in criminal law who are all at the top of their game.’

‘An outstanding set with a reputation working on the most high-profile and difficult mandates.’

‘Cloth Fair is an undisputed heavyweight in the fraud/financial crime world.’

‘A market leader in fraud.’

London Bar > Crime

Leading Silks

Mark Mulholland KC – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘When Mark is instructed in a case he is wholly committed to it. He has excellent strategic skills and an ability to plan out the approach to be taken in each case with due cognisance of potential contingencies that might arise. He has a microscopic attention to detail and nothing is left to chance. Mark is an excellent advocate. His approach is perfectly balanced and nuanced and always effective.’

Ranked: Tier 4

Leading Juniors

Patrick Hill - Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Patrick is one of the most gifted, able and brightest juniors at the criminal Bar. He is incredibly bright, very hard-working and a complete pleasure to work with. Several judges have praised him for the quality and clarity of his written word. Patrick is a complete superstar.’

Ranked: Tier 3

Robert Dacre – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Rob is an outstanding junior destined to be a true star of the Bar. He is a charismatic, fearless and enthralling advocate, whose legal analysis is second to none. His work rate is prodigious and he is also a delight to work with.’

Ranked: Tier 4

Rhys Meggy – Cloth Fair Chambers

Ranked: Tier 4

London Bar > Elections

Leading Juniors

Rachel Kapila – Cloth Fair Chambers 'Rachel combines in-depth knowledge of electoral law, a firm grasp on case details, and impressive tactical thinking.'

Ranked: Tier 1

London Bar > Extradition

Leading Juniors

Rachel Kapila – Cloth Fair Chambers ‘Rachel is rightly regarded as a star, possibly the star, individual junior of the extradition Bar. She is at the top of the list for anyone seriously seeking a barrister with intellect, diligence and ability to carry the most difficult cases. Absolutely first class.’

Ranked: Tier 2

Cloth Fair Chambers is the pre-eminent set advising on the most complex fraud, criminal and regulatory matters for individuals and corporates.

Bridging the criminal and civil jurisdictions, our purpose is to provide the very best advice and representation in the most complex matters, especially in matters of financial misconduct where the corporate world and criminal laws intersect.

Cloth Fair is a unique chambers, deliberately boutique in size, made up of distinctive King’s Counsel and junior barristers with renowned expertise in business crime, global investigations, high-profile crime, regulatory and disciplinary matters, and where our specialist advocacy and advisory skills are required.

Pioneering in the field, our members are market leaders and regularly break new ground. Often working together, members are routinely instructed as counsel of choice for corporates and senior executives dealing with allegations such as bribery and corruption, money laundering, whistle-blowing, corporate fraud and false accounting, market abuse and insider dealing and tax fraud. Typically instructed at an early stage for strategic pre-charge strategy advice, members apply their expertise to advise both boards and individuals.

Investigations are often multi-jurisdictional and involve different prosecutorial bodies spanning the SFO, FCA, CMA, HMRC and the DOJ.

Department	Name	Email	Telephone
Director of Clerking	Dean Brown

Members of Chambers	KELSEY-FRY KC, John (1978)
Members of Chambers	PURNELL KC, Nicholas (1968)
Members of Chambers	WINTER KC, Ian (1988)
Member of Chambers	MULHOLLAND KC SC, Mark (1993)
Members of Chambers	POPLE KC, Alison (1993)
Members of Chambers	ALLEN KC, Tom (1994)
Members of Chambers	BARNARD KC, Jonathan (1997)
Members of Chambers	BIGGS, Stuart (1999)
Member of Chambers	WATKINS, Aaron (2006)
Members of Chambers	KAPILA, Rachel (2006)
Members of Chambers	MEGGY, Rhys (2009)
Members of Chambers	Patrick Hill (2010)
Member of Chambers	DACRE, Robert (2013)

Name	Position	Profile
Tom Allen KC	Tom Allen focuses on commercial and business crime alongside financial regulation. He…	View Profile
Jonathan Barnard KC	Jonathan is a highly respected leading advocate in the fields of crime and…	View Profile
Stuart Biggs	Stuart’s practice focuses on matters involving allegations of misconduct by companies, directors,…	View Profile
Rachel Kapila	Rachel is a highly sought-after junior in the fields of financial crime…	View Profile
John Kelsey-Fry KC	John Kelsey-Fry KC is Head of Cloth Fair Chambers. He is widely…	View Profile
Mr Rhys Meggy	Rhys Meggy’s practice centres on defending allegations of financial criminality or regulatory…	View Profile
Alison Pople KC	With over 25 years experience as an advocate, Alison Pople KC commands…	View Profile
Nicholas Purnell KC	Nicholas Purnell KC’s career at the Bar spans over four decades and…	View Profile
Ian Winter KC	Ian Winter is a leading white-collar crime silk with an impressive track…	View Profile