1 MCB Chambers > London, England > Set Profile

1MCB
1 MCB Chambers
5 Chancery Lane
London
WC2A 1LG
England

Email firm Visit website 020 7452 8900 020 7452 8999

London Bar > Immigration (including business immigration)

London Bar > International crime and extradition

Leading Juniors

Iain Edwards –1MCB ‘He is an assured presence on any team, and particularly in court, and brings a wide range of experience to international criminal law work, which is deployed to expert effect.’

Ranked: Tier 1

Salma Lalani – 1MCB 'Salma is a very sound tactician and lawyer. She is very industrious and has a conspicuous ability to develop a rapport with clients. She displays a sound level of confidence and articulacy in her presentation of arguments and in questioning.'

Ranked: Tier 2

Soraya Bauwens – 1MCB ‘Soraya is an exceptional lawyer. She is strategic, diligent and is able to highlight the technical challenges in investigations.'

Ranked: Tier 4

London Bar > Employment

Leading Juniors

Michael Sprack - 1MCB 'A junior whose advocacy is clear and to the point, and a skillful cross-examiner.'

Ranked: Tier 4

London Bar > Social housing

Leading Juniors

Amritpal Bachu – 1 MCB Chambers 'Amritpal is diligent, thorough and very knowledgeable of housing law. He thinks very quickly on his feet and is able to deal with unexpected turns in cases with ease.'

Ranked: Tier 4

Michael Sprack – 1 MCB Chambers

Ranked: Tier 4

We work with and for a diverse range of professional and lay clients. Chambers’ expertise across a wide range of areas, our commitment to excellence, to finding solutions for our clients, and our collegiate working environment means that we are able to share our knowledge between and within areas, be approachable and offer the highest standards of representation.

Chambers is guided by its commitment to the communities it serves. We strive to support our members’ innovative, and often quiet, efforts to use law both to obtain justice for our individual clients and more broadly as a tool for social change. We owe much of our ethos to the leadership of Len Woodley KC, the first Afro-Caribbean to become a KC, who was head of chambers for the twelve years from 1988 to 2000. He was involved in some of the most important race trials in the in the 70s and 80s. His dedication to civil liberties and equality of opportunity was not showy but it was radical and it is this approach that remains evident in chambers today.

We are a very diverse set of chambers with a breadth and depth of expertise across a broad range of areas including crime, immigration and asylum, housing and community care, family, actions against the police, public law, international law and civil litigation. It is important to us that we continue to not only continue to do legally aided work but try to find ways to share our knowledge and offer support; the pressures on legal aid providers, following deep cuts and ongoing funding issues, continues to challenge the sector as well as access to justice.

Chambers supports its members’ strong links with community organisations and charities committed to bringing about structural change and addressing inequality both locally and internationally. Members regularly provide expert advice and representation for these organisations as well as to representatives and on a direct access basis.

Department	Name	Email	Telephone
Criminal Clerks	Adam Brosnan	crimeclerks@1mcb.com	020 7452 8900
Civil Clerks	Tim Markham	civilclerks@1mcb.com	020 7452 8900
Criminal Clerks	Lauren Hibbard	crimeclerks@1mcb.com	020 7452 8900
Civil Clerks	Joe Critchell	civilclerks@1mcb.com	020 7452 8900
Head of Chambers	John Benson KC (1978)
Member of Chambers	Caroline Gassman (1974)
Member of Chambers	Janette Haywood (1977)
Member of Chambers	Pamela Rose (1980)
Member of Chambers	Ignatius Fessal (1981)
Member of Chambers	Philip Romans (1982)
Member of Chambers	Jacqueline McIntosh (1987)
Member of Chambers	James Murray-Smith (1990)
Member of Chambers	Michael Murphy (1992)
Member of Chambers	Rajesh Rai (1993)
Member of Chambers	Neelim Sultan (1993)
Member of Chambers	David Langwallner (1993)
Member of Chambers	Jackie Bond (1994)
Member of Chambers	Shashi Jaisri (1995)
Member of Chambers	Barnabas Lams (1995)
Member of Chambers	Salma Lalani (1998)
Member of Chambers	Shuyeb Muquit (1998)
Member of Chambers	Shiraz Rustom (1998)
Member of Chambers	Ranjeet Dulay (1999)
Member of Chambers	Iain Edwards (2000)
Member of Chambers	Parveen Judge (2001)
Member of Chambers	Jemma Levinson (2001)
Member of Chambers	Tamsin Silver (2002)
Member of Chambers	Michael Chambers (2003)
Member of Chambers	Cynthia McFarlane (2003)
Member of Chambers	Michael Tanney (2004)
Member of Chambers	Ghazala Hussain (2006)
Member of Chambers	Anna Watterson (2007)
Member of Chambers	Gwawr Thomas (2008)
Member of Chambers	Alex Chakmakjian (2009)
Member of Chambers	David Parvin (2009)
Member of Chambers	Bernadette Smith (2010)
Member of Chambers	Amritpal Bachu (2010)
Member of Chambers	Michael Sprack (2014)
Member of Chambers	Michael Peters (2014)
Member of Chambers	Mike Hollis (2015)
Member of Chambers	Alex Bennie (2017)
Member of Chambers	Geeta Koska (2018)
Door Tenant	John Dunning (1973)
Door Tenant	Geoffrey Yearwood (1975)
Door Tenant	Peter Mullen (1977)
Door Tenant	Allan Williams (1978)
Door Tenant	Dr Christa Fielden (1982)
Door Tenant	Sylvia Allen (1983)
Door Tenant	Nicola Williams (1985)
Door Tenant	Lord Paul Boateng (1989)
Door Tenant	Rafaquat Hussain (1996)
Door Tenant	Jacqueline Lule (1999)
Door Tenant	Tanya Murshed (2006)
Door Tenant	Ariane Adam (2011)

Name	Position	Profile
Amritpal Bachu	An approachable barrister, a formidable opponent; Amritpal practises housing and employment law. …	View Profile
Soraya Bauwens	Soraya combines a busy Crown Court practice with an established career in…	View Profile
Alex Bennie	Alex originally joined 1MCB as a pupil. His interests range across crime, social…	View Profile
John Benson	John Benson QC is a multi-disciplinary silk with expertise and extensive experience…	View Profile
Jackie Bond	Jackie specialises in all aspects of immigration and asylum law, including immigration…	View Profile
Alex Chakmakjian	Alex is regularly instructed on complex and challenging immigration and asylum cases.…	View Profile
Michael Chambers	Michael has a mixed general criminal and civil practice. His criminal practice…	View Profile
Ranjeet Dulay	Ranjeet is a highly regarded barrister who specialises in crime, immigration, asylum…	View Profile
Iain Edwards	Iain is a seasoned and compassionate barrister specialising in serious crime. He…	View Profile
Ignatius Fessal	Ignatius’s practice is exclusively criminal defence. He specialises in all areas of…	View Profile
Caroline Gassman	Caroline provides pertinent advice and ruthless advocacy in serious criminal offences. She…	View Profile
Janette Haywood	Janette is a highly experienced practitioner who has always been passionate about…	View Profile
Mike Hollis	Mike prosecutes and defends in the Crown Court on a range of…	View Profile
Ghazala Hussain	Ghazala is a strategic and tenacious barrister dedicated to the needs of…	View Profile
Shashi Jaisri	Shashi was called to the Bar in 1995 by Lincoln’s Inn and has…	View Profile
Parveen Judge	Parveen is an experienced barrister who believes in representing her clients fearlessly…	View Profile
Geeta Koska	Geeta practises in all areas of housing, actions against the police and…	View Profile
Salma Lalani	Salma specialises mainly in criminal defence work and has developed a highly…	View Profile
Barnabas Lams	Barnabas is a barrister specialising in immigration and asylum law and related…	View Profile
David Langwallner	David is an experienced advocate in a broad range of legal practice…	View Profile
Jemma Levinson	Jemma is an experienced criminal defence barrister who regularly represents defendants charged…	View Profile
Jacqueline McIntosh	Jacqueline provides advice in family, crime and immigration work. She now specialises…	View Profile
Shuyeb Muquit	Shuyeb is a highly regarded practitioner specialising in the fields of immigration,…	View Profile
Michael Murphy	Michael’s career at the Bar has involved a number of high profile…	View Profile
James Murray-Smith	James has wide experience of practice at the Bar. For many years…	View Profile
David Parvin	David specialises in all areas of criminal law, both prosecution and defence,…	View Profile
Michael Peters	Michael is a dual qualified solicitor and barrister. He was admitted to…	View Profile
Rajesh Rai	Rajesh specialises in Public Law with emphasis on Human Rights, Immigration, Nationality…	View Profile
Philip Romans	Philip has prosecuted and defended, but now exclusively defends, in all areas…	View Profile
Pamela Rose	Pamela Rose is known for representing her clients fearlessly and with unwavering…	View Profile
Shiraz Rustom	As a barrister of considerable experience in criminal and civil as well…	View Profile
Bernadette Smith	Bernadette has a busy practice with a focus on immigration, asylum and judicial…	View Profile
Michael Sprack	Michael has a busy junior practice, combining housing, employment law and criminal…	View Profile
Neelim Sultan	Neelim is an established practitioner in criminal and public law children cases.…	View Profile
Gwawr Thomas	Throughout all areas of her practice, Gwawr is dedicated to promoting human rights…	View Profile
Anna Watterson	Anna has a busy and varied practice. This allows her to maintain…	View Profile
Jeffrey Yearwood	Jeffrey practises exclusively as a defence advocate in the Crown Court, principally…	View Profile

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Criminal Bar Association (CBA)
South Eastern Circuit
Family Law Bar Association (FLBA)
International Bar Association (IBA)
Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA)
Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA)
Housing Law Practitioners Association (HLPA)
Employment Law Bar Association (ELBA)
Personal Injuries Bar Association (PIBA)

1 MCB Chambers is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all barristers, employees, applicants and clients.
1 MCB Chambers does not discriminate against its barristers, staff, applicants or clients on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (‘protected characteristics’).
1 MCB Chambers confirms that members have adopted a written Equality and Diversity Policy. Further, barristers are under a professional duty to ensure that they comply with the Equality Rules contained within the Bar Handbook.

1) 1 MCB Chambers is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all barristers, employees, applicants and clients.

2) 1 MCB Chambers does not discriminate against its barristers, staff, applicants or clients on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (‘protected characteristics’).

3) 1 MCB Chambers confirms that members have adopted a written Equality and Diversity Policy. Further, barristers are under a professional duty to ensure that they comply with the Equality Rules contained within the Bar Handbook.