Church Court Chambers > Set Profile

Church Court Chambers is a leading multidisciplinary set with a proud reputation for being professional, approachable and modern. Chambers members, including 5 Queens Counsel and 45 Juniors, enjoy busy and varied practices; collectively they have an enviable back catalogue of high-profile and complex matters such as the Luton Slavery Trial, the Jimmy Savile Inquiry and The Marrache Fraud Case. They have appeared at every level, including in the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Individually they are all highly regarded and respected by their peers and the judiciary. The head of chambers, Kerim Fuad QC, leads chambers with professionalism and pride; under his stewardship chambers has quickly grown to become a powerhouse set enjoying continued expansion without compromising on quality or integrity.

The set: Members are supported by a dedicated and efficient clerks room led by Daniel Bartlett and Rod McGurk who ensures chambers meet the needs of the sets professional and lay clients in an ever-changing legal environment. Many members of chambers can be instructed, where appropriate, directly through the public access scheme.

Types of work undertaken: Chambers main practice areas are crime, regulatory, extradition, immigration, family, and civil law. However, many individual members have their own areas of specialism, including courts martial, sports law and inquests, to name but a few. In addition to traditional advocacy and advisory services, many members of Church Court Chambers lecture in their respective field of expertise and are published authors, including contributors to practitioner texts. In addition, many of the sets members sit on committees, including the executive of the Criminal Bar Association, and are pupil supervisors and advocacy trainers, demonstrating chambers commitment to the profession.

The criminal team consists of a number of talented leading and junior counsel who represent clients in the full spectrum of criminal offences, including murder, fraud, terrorism, drug importation, cyber crime, slavery  and sexual offences. Previous matters have included the first slavery trial in England, the first slavery trial in Wales and Twomey, the first non-jury trial. Murder trials have included Damilola Taylor, the Three Cooks Bakery murder and the cockney hit man trial. Recent financial crime instructions include a multimillion-pound trading standards prosecution, advising the European subsidiary of an international finance company (with $2.5bn holdings) on insider trading and seven members of chambers being instructed in a paper-heavy and complex fraud perpetrated against the government. Court of Appeal and Supreme Court instructions have resulted in chambers being involved in the leading authorities on confiscation, hearsay and disclosure.

The civil team at Church Court Chambers are able to draw on a wide range of knowledge and experience in dealing with all forms of civil and commercial disputes. Alongside their expertise as advocates, members provide full advisory services, both written and oral, from the initial stage of consideration of the merits of proposed litigation to the drafting of pleadings and settlement negotiations. Clients and opponents have included high-profile companies and internationally recognised brands. At the junior end, solicitors routinely observe that members have experience and skill beyond their year of call.

The family team consists of experienced and flexible juniors covering all aspects of family law; collectively they provide an expert advisory and advocacy service. The team includes Ivor Frank, who was recently appointed to the high-profile independent inquiry into child sex abuse. Members of chambers have a wide range of experience, from intractable hostility contact cases to child abduction to foreign jurisdictions and wardship matters.

The immigration team is committed in an ever-changing landscape to fearlessly representing clients in the full range of immigration matters, including judicial review, often demonstrating empathy and compassion in contrast to the position adopted by the government. Chambers lectures routinely in this area and members have appeared in the First and Upper Tier Tribunals, High Court and Court of Appeal.