Pump Court Chambers > Winchester, England > Set Profile
Pump Court Chambers Offices
Pump Court Chambers
31 SOUTHGATE STREET
WINCHESTER
SO23 9EB
England
Pump Court Chambers > The Legal 500 Rankings
Western Circuit > Crime (general and fraud) Tier 1
Pump Court Chambers ‘has an excellent reputation for crime work on the Western Circuit‘, with silks through to newly qualified juniors instructed in a wide range of cases. Sarah Jones KC is ‘tenacious and fearless‘ and divides her practice evenly between defence and prosecution work, focusing on murder, manslaughter, and child destruction. Rebecca Fairbairn is ‘very effective in cross-examination‘ and specialises in sexual offences and organised crime cases. Mark Ruffell is well-known for prosecuting multi-handed drugs and fraud offences for CPS Wessex, while Tom Wilkins has considerable experience representing service personnel in the Court Martial as well as in the Crown Court. In October 2023 James Newton-Price KC was appointed a Circuit Judge.Leading Silks
Leading Juniors
Testimonials
‘Ben, James and Tony are very helpful clerks.’
‘The clerking team is great – Tony George, Ben Harfield and James May will do their utmost to ensure that booked counsel can attend the hearing and that conferences are booked on a convenient date and at a convenient time for clients.’
‘Pump Court has an excellent reputation for crime work on the Western Circuit.’
‘An excellent set that recruits exceptional talent at the junior end. Over recent years they have consistently added to their criminal team.’
‘Pump Court is a formidable set that has real strength in its Criminal Team. From its silks to its new juniors, each and every member of is a safe pair of hands. As a set, Pump Court really delivers.’
Western Circuit > Family: children and domestic violence Tier 1
With ‘a good range of juniors, senior juniors, and KCs’, Pump Court Chambers’ family law team is ‘flourishing’. Penny Howe KC, who ‘excels in cross-dealing with medical experts’, regularly represents parents subject to parallel criminal investigation for serious crimes and has recently been instructed in cases involving the safety of the children of a convicted terrorist and deliberate bleach poisoning. Leslie Samuels KC, with considerable experience in long fact-finding hearings involving the physical abuse of young children and babies, is widely seen as a ‘cut above the rest’.Leading Silks
Leading Juniors
Testimonials
‘Sean Gentleman is one of the best Senior Clerks around.’
‘James Collier is a fantastic clerk. Likeable, knowledgeable and organised.’
‘Sean Gentleman leads the team with a professional and confident yet friendly and approachable attitude. He is ably supported by the rest of the clerking team.’
‘Pump Court is an excellent chambers with strength in depth.’
‘An excellent set with good a range of juniors, senior juniors and KCs. Their webinars are topical and useful, and there is a good availability of counsel through the year.’
‘They are a flourishing set, from a family law perspective.’
Western Circuit > Family: divorce and financial remedy Tier 1
Pump Court Chambers hosts an ‘excellent set of family law barristers with a wide range of expertise’. Edward Boydell KC, ‘a formidable and punchy advocate’, heads the family finance team. He handles high-net worth cases, often involving farms, family companies, overseas trusts, and various other complicating factors. Jennifer Lee has a ‘superb forensic eye’ which she employs in high-value and technical matters concerning inherited wealth, businesses, and trusts. Her cases often involve jurisdictional issues, hidden assets, capacity issues, and disputes regarding the validity of overseas marriages and divorces. Maria Henty is gaining a strong reputation for financial remedy work, and her advocacy and cross-examination have been described as ‘phenomenally impressive’.Leading Silks
2024 Silks
Leading Juniors
Testimonials
‘James Collier and Matthew Fuller are superb. They are efficient, reasonable and a real pleasure to deal with.’
‘Tony Atkins is a real asset to chambers. He is very experienced and will always go the extra mile to assist.’
‘All of the clerks are helpful and have a great manner but in particular Sean Gentleman goes out of his way to find the right barrister for the client.’
‘Tony is the best clerk on the Western Circuit! He is by far the most approachable and knowledgeable clerk around.’
‘Pump Court Chambers is an excellent chambers, providing a first class service with a smile.’
‘Pump Court is a strong and reputable set consisting of knowledgeable and highly regarded barristers in all aspects of family law.’
‘Pump Court is without a doubt a chambers with a very strong family team, with good breadth of experience in terms of year of call. A go-to set in this area.’
Western Circuit > Employment Tier 2
Pump Court Chambers’ employment team ‘boasts a number of very capable barristers at various levels of call’. Heather Platt is a ‘tenacious advocate’ with considerable experience in relation to disability discrimination claims. She acted for the claimant in Richards v Brocade Communications UK Ltd, a high-profile disability discrimination and unfair dismissal claim by a man with terminal kidney cancer whose employment was ended by the company he had worked for. Tim Dracass regularly handles respondent work, including for private sector businesses, police forces, fire services, local authorities, and universities, while the ‘excellent’ Daniella Gilbert acts for and against a wide range of clients, especially in relation to discrimination and whistleblowing claims.Leading Juniors
Testimonials
‘The clerks are quick to respond and helpful. Dean Cunniff is particularly adept in recommending suitable available counsel.’
‘All clerks are very helpful and try to develop good working relationships with instructing solicitors. Jon Cue and Dean Cunniff are particularly helpful.’
‘Dean Cunniff is friendly, responsive and helpful.’
‘The set boasts a number of very capable barristers at various levels of call and the clerks reliably recommend suitable counsel.’
‘Pump Court is a good set with strong advocates.’
‘Good range of counsel’
Work highlights
London Bar > Family: private FDR judges and arbitrators Tier 3
2024 Silks
South Eastern Circuit > Family: children and domestic violence Tier 3
Pump Court Chambers - which boosted its South Eastern circuit presence following its absorption of Stour Chambers as its Canterbury office - has a strong group of family law juniors, who continue to represent a range of parties in complex cases across the region across the full range of public and private law matters. Simon Johnson is praised by clients as ‘an exceptionally thorough and diligent barrister’ while Amy Connell is known for providing ‘clear and robust advice’ and is an ‘extremely competent advocate’.Leading Juniors
Testimonials
‘Pump Court Chambers is efficient and will assist in any way that they can. They are very organised and ensure that all paperwork is provided to assist the barrister.’
‘Pump Court Chambers is a very good set with a range of seniority and all areas of law covered.’
‘Pump Court Chambers is a go-to set for local hearings. It has several experienced counsellors. It always endeavours to ensure continuity of counsel when possible.’
‘Marc Goddard knows his barristers’ strengths and is very helpful in suggesting people the right call for particular cases.’
‘The set provides a great service of the clerks, flexible and helpful. Marc Goddard is very good.’
Western Circuit > Business and regulatory crime (including health and safety)
Leading Juniors
Western Circuit > Commercial litigation
Western Circuit > Personal injury
Leading Juniors
Wales and Chester Circuit > Chancery, probate, and tax
Leading Juniors
London Bar > Family: children and domestic abuse
Leading Juniors
London Bar > Inquests and inquiries
Leading Juniors
South Eastern Circuit > Family: divorce and financial remedy
Leading Juniors
London Bar > Family: divorce and financial remedy
Leading Juniors
Pump Court Chambers > Set Profile
Established 75 years ago, Pump Court Chambers is a large and well-established common law set specialising in family, civil, criminal and international law, as well as forms of non-court dispute resolution such as commercial arbitration, family arbitration, mediation and private FDRs.
The set: Chambers has 104 barristers, including seven silks, based across its three offices in London, Winchester and Swindon. Each centre is staffed by an experienced clerking team which is known for providing a consistently high service. Although based in London and on the Western Circuit, the work done by the set’s barristers extends throughout the UK and abroad. Members of chambers appear in all levels of courts and offer the highest quality advocacy and advisory services. Many sit as part-time judges in a variety of courts and tribunals, and it has a proud record of having provided numerous accomplished and highly respected judges to the Circuit Bench and other senior judicial posts.
The set is highly regarded by its peers for the depth of its expertise across the full range of contentious legal services. Clients believe that what really sets chambers apart is its attitude to client service – barristers have an unstuffy approach, a ‘can do’ attitude and the ability to give clear advice that makes sense. Chambers is committed to professional excellence and always works to the highest ethical standards.
Types of work undertaken
Civil: The team, made up of over 40 practising members including two silks continues to growth in strength. Chambers has particular expertise in all areas of business and commercial, employment, inheritance, property, personal injury and clinical negligence, professional negligence, regulatory and transport law.
The team also undertakes a large amount of professional negligence work, with a number of practitioners acting as legal assessors and representatives for the General Medical Council and other professional bodies.
Family: With over 60 members including three KCs, Pump Court Chambers has one of the largest specialist family law teams at the Bar. The team practises in four main areas: family finance, court of protection, children public law and children private law. To meet the growing need for a non-court-based resolution service for family finance cases, the team also provides services in family arbitration, mediation and private FDRs. The family finance team undertakes a wide spectrum of work, from complex high-net-worth ‘big money’ cases to actions with more modest assets and incomes. The private children law team specialises in residence and contact disputes and applications for permission to remove children from the jurisdiction. The team also has extensive experience in dealing with child abduction cases with international dimensions and matters involving serious domestic and sexual abuse. In public law it advises and represents local authorities, parents and guardians in all areas of children work, including applications for care and supervision orders, applications for placement and adoption orders, applications under the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court, and disputes where local authorities have been joined as parties to applications for judicial review.
International: Oba Nsugbe KC, SAN is widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s and Nigeria’s leading barristers and commercial arbitrators. He has a broad international practice with a particular interest in Africa. He is qualified as a barrister and a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He advises the Nigerian federal government, several state governments and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, as well as having appeared as an expert witness in several UK cases involving Nigerian law. In addition, he routinely works in other overseas jurisdictions such as Germany, the Cayman Islands, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. He is frequently involved in multi-jurisdictional cases. Anthony Akiwumi is admitted as an attorney of the Cayman Islands and has practised in this jurisdiction since 1997. He has an excellent command of the issues arising in the context of an increasingly regulated offshore environment. In 2002 Anthony was part of the team that successfully represented the Cayman Islands in its presentations to the OECD/FATF, resulting ultimately in the removal of the Cayman Islands from the list of non-co-operating jurisdictions. Jason Nickless enjoys cases with an international flavour and has advised clients both on- and offshore. He has been called to the Bar in the British Virgin Islands and appeared there before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, where he was involved in two appeals dealing with the interrelationship between insolvency rules and arbitration clauses. He has dealt with a number of cases involving African mobile telephone companies. He regularly advises on conflict of law matters both inside and outside the EC jurisdictions. Naima Asif has spent significant time in Pakistan gaining experience in cases involving forced/child marriage, domestic/honour based violence, stranded spouse, international child abduction and Islamic law. Naima is regularly instructed to provide expert advice on Pakistani law and Islamic law.
Regulatory: Our regulatory and disciplinary barristers represents businesses and professionals in disputes over their adherence to or application of the standards and rules that govern and guide their operation.
These disputes often run in parallel with proceedings involving commercial, employment or criminal litigation. Our regulatory and disciplinary team are adept at handling these complex, multi-dimensional cases to ensure that our clients receive the best-possible representation on each aspect of the dispute.
Businesses and professions are more closely regulated than ever before and failure – or even the suggestion of a failure – to comply with the relevant regulations and standards can have very significant, even career-ending, financial and reputational consequences. So, it is vital when proceedings are initiated against a business or professional that they access expert representation as quickly as possible, especially where matters progress to a tribunal.
Criminal: Pump Court Chambers’ criminal advocates enjoy an outstanding reputation. Over the last 20 years more than 15 of the group have become circuit judges. In the same period 15 members of chambers have been appointed as King’s Counsel. From these solid foundations chambers has developed into one of the most modern and forward-thinking sets. The team is made up of four silks and 22 junior tenants.
Alternative dispute resolution: Chambers offers a range of services to assist parties to resolve their issues in a modern, focused and cost-effective manner. These services include commercial arbitration, civil and family mediation, family arbitration under the IFLA scheme and private FDRs.
Main Contacts
Department | Name | Telephone | |
---|---|---|---|
Senior Clerk | Tony Atkins | t.atkins@pumpcourtchambers.com | 0207 427 7080 |
Senior Criminal Clerk | Tony George | t.george@pumpcourtchambers.com | 01962 833202 |
Senior Civil Clerk | Jonathan Cue | j.cue@pumpcourtchambers.com | 020 7353 0711 |
Senior Family Clerk | Sean Gentleman | s.gentleman@pumpcourtchambers.com | 0207 427 7084 |
First Family Junior / Family ADR Clerk | James Collier | j.collier@pumpcourtchambers.com | 0207 427 7082 |
Senior Employment / First Civil Junior Clerk | Dean Cunniff | d.cunniff@pumpcourtchambers.com | 0207 427 7086 |
Regulatory & Civil Clerk | Tom Wood | t.wood@pumpcourtchambers.com | 0207 353 0711 |
Barrister Profiles
Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
---|---|---|---|
Mr Frank Abbott | Frank Abbott has an extensive practice in criminal and civil law, including… | View Profile | |
Mr Tim Akers | Timothy Akers is a specialist criminal and regulatory lawyer. He is regularly… | View Profile | |
Mr Mark Ashley | Mark Ashley has over 20 years experience as a common law advocate.… | View Profile | |
Mr Peter Asteris | Peter undertakes all areas of general crime, but specialises in serious sex… | View Profile | |
Mr Martin Blount | Child AbductionChildren Law (Private)Children Law (Public)Direct AccessDomestic ViolenceFamily Finance | View Profile | |
Mr Andrew Bond | Andrew Bond is a specialist in the field of Family law, with… | View Profile | |
Mr James Byrne | James Byrne is a Barrister specialising in Family law, Housing & Property… | View Profile | |
Ms Lucy Davis | Lucy Davis enjoys a busy practice specialising in Family Finance and Private… | View Profile | |
Mr Tim Dracass | Tim’s specialist area of practice is employment law. He has built a… | View Profile | |
Mr John Dyer | John Dyer’s practice is principally in criminal defence. He now appears regularly… | View Profile | |
Ms Rebecca Fairbairn | Rebecca has a dual criminal and family law practice which has evolved… | View Profile | |
Ms Ellie Fargin | Junior Tenant specialising in Criminal and Regulatory work. | View Profile | |
Ms Ellie Fargin | Junior Tenant specialising in Criminal and Regulatory work. | View Profile | |
Mr Charles Gabb | Courts MartialCriminalRegulatory & DisciplinaryTransport LawRoad Traffic Offences | View Profile | |
Mr Richard Hall | Richard Hall practises almost exclusively in the areas of Financial Remedies, Schedule… | View Profile | |
Ms Caroline Hartley | Caroline Hartley specialises in representing parents, especially if they are vulnerable due… | View Profile | |
Mr Andrew Houston | Criminal | View Profile | |
Ms Corinne Iten | Corinne Iten specialises in Children Law. She has a special interest in… | View Profile | |
Ms Sarah Jones | Sarah made her mark in prosecuting and defending in cases involving multiple… | View Profile | |
Mr David Josty | David Josty is a specialist family law practitioner with expertise in children… | View Profile | |
Mr Stuart McGhee | Stuart is frequently instructed in financial matters following the breakdown of marriage… | View Profile | |
Mr Jason Nickless | Jason Nickless is experienced in commercial and civil litigation. He can be… | View Profile | |
Mr Nigel Pascoe | Nigel is a specialist practitioner in criminal jury advocacy. He undertakes courts… | View Profile | |
Mr Oliver Peirson | Oliver is an experienced and highly regard family practitioner who has specialised… | View Profile | |
Ms Imogen Robins | Imogen Robins is a barrister with over 25 years experience exclusively in… | View Profile | |
Ms Zoe Rudd | Zoe Rudd is a family practitioner, with a particular interest in both… | View Profile | |
Mr Mark Ruffell | Mark Ruffell is a very experienced leading junior. His expertise covers three… | View Profile | |
Ms Annie Ward | Barrister specialising in the following: matrimonial finance; financial provision for children; Trusts… | View Profile | |
Mr Richard Wayman | Richard Wayman is a specialist civil and criminal barrister, with a particular… | View Profile | |
Mr Tom Wilkins | Tom Wilkins has over 20 years experience dealing with criminal and motoring… | View Profile |
Languages
Chinese (Mandarin and dialects) Hindu Urdu French German Italian Portuguese Spanish and various Nigerian languages- Western Circuit > Crime (general and fraud)
- Western Circuit > Family: children and domestic violence
- Western Circuit > Family: divorce and financial remedy
Top Tier Set Rankings
- Western Circuit > Employment
Set Rankings
- Family: private FDR judges and arbitrators
- South Eastern Circuit > Family: children and domestic violence
- Western Circuit > Business and regulatory crime (including health and safety)
- Western Circuit > Commercial litigation
- Western Circuit > Personal injury
- Wales and Chester Circuit > Chancery, probate, and tax
- Family: children and domestic abuse
- Inquests and inquiries
- South Eastern Circuit > Family: divorce and financial remedy
- Family: divorce and financial remedy