Set Profile > Chambers of Rachel Sleeman > London , London

Chambers of Rachel Sleeman
Five Paper
FIVE PAPER BUILDINGS, TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 7HB
London

Email firm Visit website 020 7815 3200 020 7815 3201

Social housing Tier 2

Five Paper has 'a good spread across senior and junior levels' in the social housing arena. One referee commented that it is 'second to none in terms of its knowledge and experience of the sector'. Also notable is that 'the clerks are very personable and diligent; led well by David Portch'. The set is noted for its strengths in acting for landlords, local authorities and social housing organisations. It has featured in many high-profile and landmark cases; in one example, Nicholas Grundy QC was the lead counsel to the London Borough of Brent in Alibkhiet v LB Brent, where the Court of Appeal held there was no obligation to tell applicants of available housing closer to Brent, and that the local authority's allocation policy and procurement of accommodation were lawful. Another instruction saw Grundy QC serve as the lead counsel for the local authority in XPQ v The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham; this case addressed the housing duties of local authorities to human trafficking victims. Tina Conlan represented the local authority at the Court of Appeal in Kannan v LB Newham, which involved a homelessness statutory appeal on the suitability of accommodation.

Leading Juniors

Terry Gallivan - Five Paper ‘ Has an encyclopaedic knowledge of housing law and is always a safe pair of hands ’

Ranked: Tier 1

Stephen Evans - Five Paper ‘ Known for advising local authority and registered provider landlords on housing matters, including dilapidations claims and cases involving disability discrimination/Equality Act issues ’

Ranked: Tier 2

Sara Beecham - Five Paper ‘ Is very personable and is very good at explaining complex issues to the lay client ’

Ranked: Tier 3

Tina Conlan - Five Paper ‘ Sought out for advice on homelessness appeals, housing matters involving anti-social behaviour and disrepair claims ’

Ranked: Tier 3

Victoria Osler - Five Paper ‘ Her strength is that she will not easily give up, has a lot of energy and will fight her client’s corner while she remains standing ’

Ranked: Tier 3

Angela Hall - Five Paper ‘ An excellent advocate, who is confident and compelling on her feet ’

Ranked: Tier 4

Josephine Henderson - Five Paper ‘ She has more than 20 years of housing law experience ’

Ranked: Tier 4

Jane Hodgson - Five Paper ‘ She is knowledgeable about security of tenure and succession rights, disrepair and unlawful eviction, among other areas ’

Ranked: Tier 4

Ben Maltz - Five Paper ‘ He assists local authorities and registered providers with a wide range of housing matters. Tenancy fraud cases are a notable area of specialism ’

Ranked: Tier 4

Sam Phillips - Five Paper ‘ A truly formidable advocate. Whether he is in the High Court, Court of Appeal or in the County Court, he is eloquent and nimble on his feet and devastating in cross-examination ’

Ranked: Tier 4

Leading Silks

Nicholas Grundy QC - Five Paper ‘ He has an amazing ability to appear relaxed in even the most difficult cases and puts clients at their ease ’

Ranked: Tier 2

Five Paper is a leading civil set consistently acknowledged as a leader in social housing law. Chambers has thriving teams in business immigration and regulatory, commercial, employment, family and property law. Individual members have also developed successful practices in health and safety, including specialising in appeals against enforcement notices served by regulators, restructuring, insolvency, asset recovery and property litigation. Clients include the private and public sector, corporations, private companies and individuals. Five Paper’s commitment to ADR is shown through their arbitrator (FCIArb) and trained mediators, including a CEDR-accredited mediator, providing mediation in family, workplace/employment and civil cases,

The set: Five Paper prides itself on having an open and accessible culture. The set’s commitment to diversity was recently rewarded by a top five position in the Diversity League Table 2015, including joint first place for its practice and policy.

Types of work undertaken:

Commercial: Five Paper’s commercial team practises predominantly in commercial finance, insolvency and asset recovery and is a leading set in the area of invoice finance and asset-based lending. The team has a substantial chancery commercial practice, encompassing breach of directors’ and fiduciary duties, misfeasance, company, shareholder and partnership disputes, trusts (including co-ownership disputes), tracing and asset recovery, and professional negligence. Members frequently appear in corporate and personal insolvency cases and offer specialist advice in cases concerning mentally incapacitated debtors. Members of the team edit Salinger on Factoring and Goode on Proprietary Rights and Insolvency in Sales Transactions.

Employment: members practise in all areas of employment law, representing both claimants and respondents, with a specialism in discrimination law and whistleblowing. The team regularly appears in the EAT for local authorities and advises both them and blue-chip companies on internal procedures, contracts and compliance issues. Members represent employers, educational institutions, executives, professionals and skilled workers on all aspects of business immigration including corporate immigration planning, applications under the points-based system, sponsor licensing, illegal working and employer’s liability.

Family: the team acts on ancillary relief and children cases including private Children Act applications, family finance disputes with an international element, including internal and international relocation, and jurisdictional disputes.

Property: a major area for Five Paper, with a deep bench of expertise from the most junior through to the most senior members. The team acts on the full range of issues including traditional landlord and tenant work (residential and commercial), easements, covenants, boundary disputes, adverse possession, mortgages, wills, trusts of land and conveyancing. The set has a forte in social housing law, with regular appearances in leading appellate cases. In Akerman-Livingstone v Aster Communities Ltd [2015] UKSC 15 the team successfully represented Aster in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

Business Immigration & Regulatory Team (‘BIRT’): BIRT works closely with business, industry and regulators. Members of BIRT are specialist practitioners in business immigration including sponsor licensing, compliance, PBS & Tiers 1-2 & 4-5, EU issues, Brexit and the right to work. Members also have experience in statutory appeals including appeals under section 24 HSWA, inquests and inquiries, disputes regarding the Office of Rail and Road including road transport issues, and care homes and health regulation.

Mediation: Five Paper provides an expert mediation service. Chambers’ experienced team of trained mediators all undertake family cases, both financial and child issues, with a specialism in mediation for same-sex couples. Five Paper regularly provides mediation in its dedicated mediation suite.

A detailed guide to the types of work undertaken by the set can be found at www.fivepaper.com.

Chambers regularly arranges specialist training for professional clients, often accredited by the Bar Standards Board and CiLEX for continuing professional development and the SRA’s continuing competence scheme. Five Paper is happy to discuss bespoke in-house training events for professional and key public and commercial clients. For further information, please visit www.fivepaper.com or contact the clerking team.

Led by senior clerk David Portch, the clerking team shares the barristers’ commitment to client service, and is regularly praised both by clients and in legal directories. Five Paper ensures that its pupils experience as wide a variety of hands-on work as possible. Pupils spend time with different practice teams, guided by fully trained supervisors. Each year, chambers offers two fully funded, 12-month pupillages. For 2016-17, pupils will receive an award of £25,000, plus guaranteed earnings of £5,000 in the second six months of pupillage.

Department	Name	Telephone
Head of Chambers	Rachel Sleeman
Senior clerk	David Portch
Commercial team leader	Simon Mills
Property team leader	Stephen Evans
Employment team leader	Jake Davies
Family team leader	Mark Lyne
Business Immigration & Regulatory team leader	Satinder Gill
Business Immigration & Regulatory team leader	Ian Wright
Pupillage coordinator	Millie Polimac
Members of Chambers	GRUNDY QC, Nicholas (1993)
Members of Chambers	BROATCH, Donald (1971)
Members of Chambers	BULL, Roger (1974)
Members of Chambers	LYNE, Mark (1981)
Members of Chambers	GALLIVAN, Terence (1981)
Members of Chambers	WRIGHT, Ian (1983)
Members of Chambers	RICH, Jonathan (1989)
Members of Chambers	JOHN OBE, Peter (1989)
Members of Chambers	HENDERSON, Josephine (1990)
Members of Chambers	GILL, Satinder (1991)
Members of Chambers	ROBINSON, Simon (1991)
Members of Chambers	EVANS, Stephen (1992)
Members of Chambers	MILLS, Simon (1994)
Members of Chambers	SLEEMAN, Rachel (1996)
Members of Chambers	CRAWFORD, Shane (1996)
Members of Chambers	DAVIES, Jake (1997)
Members of Chambers	MALTZ, Ben (1998)
Members of Chambers	RAI, Sonia (1998)
Members of Chambers	BEECHAM, Sara (1999)
Members of Chambers	HALL, Angela (2000)
Members of Chambers	LEIVESLEY, Julie (2000)
Members of Chambers	HODGSON, Jane (2000)
Members of Chambers	GLASS, Mary (2001)
Members of Chambers	OSLER, Victoria (2001)
Members of Chambers	MACRO, Morwenna (2002)
Members of Chambers	CONLAN, Tina (2002)
Members of Chambers	CHRISTOPHER-CHAMBERS JP, Gillian (2003)
Members of Chambers	TER HAAR, Camilla
Members of Chambers	MOATE, Jennifer (2006)
Members of Chambers	POLIMAC, Millie (2007)
Members of Chambers	CHAKRAVARTY, Gita (2010)
Members of Chambers	MOLD, David (2010)
Members of Chambers	MULLIN, Michael (2010)
Members of Chambers	PHILLIPS, Sam (2011)
Members of Chambers	WILLIAMSON, Laura (2011)
Members of Chambers	SALTER, Tristan (2013)
Members of Chambers	JAYAKUMAR, Sahana (2014)
Member of Chambers	CREHAN, Daniel (2014)
Members of Chambers	LAVILLE, Roger (2015)	(admitted as a solicitor 2002)
Members of Chambers	KELL, Zachary (2015)
Members of Chambers	KINGSTON-SPLATT, Alexander (2017)	(admitted as a solicitor 2012)
Members of Chambers	SAROMI, Ololade (2015)
Member of Chambers	DINGLEY, Gavin (2015)

Name	Position	Profile
Sara Beecham		View Profile
Donald Broatch		View Profile
Gita Chakravarty		View Profile
Gillian Christopher-chambers		View Profile
Tina Conlan		View Profile
Shane Crawford		View Profile
Jake Davies		View Profile
Stephen Evans		View Profile
Terence Gallivan		View Profile
Satinder Gill		View Profile
Mary Glass		View Profile
Nicholas Grundy QC		View Profile
Angela Hall		View Profile
Josephine Henderson		View Profile
Jane Hodgson		View Profile
Sahana Jayakumar		View Profile
Peter John		View Profile
Zachary Kell	Barrister	View Profile
Alexander Kingston-Splatt		View Profile
Roger Laville		View Profile
Julie Leivesley		View Profile
Mark Lyne		View Profile
Morwenna Macro		View Profile
Ben Maltz		View Profile
Simon Mills		View Profile
Jennifer Moate		View Profile
Paul Norris		View Profile
Victoria Osler		View Profile
Sam Phillips		View Profile
Millie Polimac		View Profile
Sonia Rai		View Profile
Jonathan Rich		View Profile
Tristan Salter		View Profile
ololade Saromi		View Profile
Rachel Sleeman		View Profile
Laura Williamson		View Profile
Ian Wright		View Profile