PJ Kirby KC > Gatehouse Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
Gatehouse Chambers Offices
1 Lady Hale Gate, Gray’s Inn
WC1X 8BS
England
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PJ Kirby KC
Work Department
Commercial dispute resolution; costs; banking, finance and credit; civil fraud; employment; professional negligence.
Position
PJ has enjoyed a long and successful career at the Bar having previously been a partner in a Holborn firm of solicitors. He took silk in 2013 – the only costs specialist to do so that year.
PJ’s practice covers costs litigation, commercial dispute resolution and professional negligence. Recommended by the legal directories for his “great knowledge in relation to complex, cross-border, multi-party-funded litigation“, he is instructed by a wide range of solicitors from City firms to High Street practitioners. As well as cases in England & Wales PJ has appeared in the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal in relation to the legality of CFAs and in the DIFC in Dubai and much of his work has an international dimension.
PJ is recognised as an expert in the field of costs and is often instructed on appeals in relation to problems over retainers, CFAs etc. He is also often instructed to draft bespoke DBAs, CFAs or CCFAs for firms of solicitors.
PJ sits as a Deputy District Judge and is a Bar Council appointed High Court costs assessor. PJ is also an ADR group accredited mediator and is on the Costs ADR (CADR) panel of mediators.
Career
Qualified 1989; solicitor Supreme Court 1983-89; deputy district judge; barrister assessor in costs appeals. Formerly a partner in a firm of Holborn solicitors.
Memberships
- Employment Law Bar Association
- Employment Lawyers Association
- Commercial Bar Association
- London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association
- Professional Negligence Bar Association
- London Court of International Arbitration
- British Insurance Law Association
Education
- L.B. (Hons)
- Former Solicitor
- Deputy District Judge
- Barrister Assessor on High Court Cost Appeals
- ADR Group Accredited Civil & Commercial Mediator
- Costs ADR (CADR) panel of mediators
Leisure
Family, faith, football and food – although the order of importance tends to vary !
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Costs
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1PJ Kirby KC –Gatehouse Chambers ‘A leading costs silk.’
With specialists at all levels of call, the costs team at Gatehouse Chambers are frequently instructed on the most high-profile and complex appellate cases. PJ Kirby KC appeared before the Supreme Court in PACCAR Inc v Road Haulage Association Ltd, with the court declaring that litigation funding agreements that entitle funders to payment based on damages recovered amount to damages-based agreements, which are therefore unenforceable unless complying with the DBA regulatory regime, a judgment with significant ramifications for UK litigation funders and claimant law firms. Following on from the highly-publicised Belsner case, Robin Dunne is acting as sole counsel in Edwards & Ors v Slater & Gordon; a test case clarifying for the first time that disclosure under Part 31 CPR applies to solicitor and client claims and that claimant firms taking these cases do not do so illegally.