Hailsham Chambers ‘stands out as a pre-eminent set in the field of costs law, particularly across high-stakes and technically demanding matters.’ The members have been particularly active in the collective proceedings regime in the Competition Appeal Tribunal, Dieselgate and the fallout of the Russian and Ukrainian aircraft insurance claims. Alexander Hutton KC is acting in a proposed group action of potentially hundreds of thousands of PPI claimants, whilst Jamie Carpenter KC is representing Rebekah Vardy, wife of Premier League Golden Boot winner Jamie, in costs litigation after her unsuccessful libel claim (dubbed "Wagatha Christie" in the popular press) against Coleen Rooney, wife of former Plymouth Argyle manager Wayne. Dan Stacey represented Hyundai, Kia and Volvo in the Pan Nox Diesel Emissions Litigation, successfully reducing the claimants’ budget of around £250m to nearer to £50m. Acting in the major group litigation, Municipio de Mariana v BHP Group (UK) Ltd, Mark Friston represents the claimants. Following over 35 years at the bar, Andrew Post KC retired in April 2024, whilst the set welcomed Camilla Avery as the Head of Operations.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Mentions
Profile
Position
Jamie specialises in costs and professional and clinical negligence. Leading firms of solicitors in all three areas regularly instruct him, and his costs practice has an international dimension, having advised firms in Dubai, Singapore and the Channel Islands. Jamie is equally at home dealing with narrow points of construction or marshalling complex facts in document-heavy claims. He is a very experienced advocate, having spent much of his earlier years in practice in the criminal courts.
Jamie is in demand as an appellate advocate. In the last three years, he has appeared twice in the Supreme Court and nine times in the Court of Appeal. With his scientific background, Jamie is comfortable dealing with technical and medical issues and complex calculations, and he is a confident and effective cross-examiner of expert witnesses. Jamie is recommended in the professional directories for all of his practice areas. He has been described as “technically brilliant”, “fantastic for complex cases”, “an extremely good advocate, who tackles complex issues fearlessly and effectively” and “incredibly user-friendly … and appreciates clients’ needs”.
Career
Called 2000; Inner Temple.
Languages
Fluent German, basic French.
Memberships
Professional Negligence Bar Association; Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers; AvMA.
Education
The Perse School, Cambridge; Trinity College, Cambridge (1996 Diploma in German, distinction; 1998 BA linguistics first class); The College of Law (1999 CPE, distinction); Inns of Court School of Law (2000 BVC, very competent).
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The service provided by Hailsham Chambers is consistently excellent. A notable feature of the Hailsham clerks’ room is their role in supporting and facilitating the set’s exceptional in-house training programme. The clerks and support staff are closely involved in organising bespoke seminars, briefing sessions, and more informal knowledge-sharing events, often tailoring these to client needs. This integrated approach between the barristers and clerking team adds real value and reinforces the set’s reputation for thought leadership and client service.'
- 'Clerks are professional, helpful and responsive. Stuart Paley has been of great assistance in helping us set up a training seminar on maximising costs recovery for our Dispute Resolution Division.'
- 'The Clerks and wider Chambers team are 'chefs kiss' superb. Jan Yogeswaran deserves a special mention, she is superb at what she does of course but also the most down to earth person who makes everyone feel special. Lee Reynolds, Stuart Paley, Lewis Merison, Leah Ashcroft, James Defries are all superb.'
- 'The service from the clerk's room is excellent.'
- 'Hailsham Chambers stands out as a pre-eminent set in the field of costs law, particularly across high-stakes and technically demanding matters. The set is unique in combining deep specialisation with broad commercial and litigation expertise, allowing its members to handle costs disputes with a sophisticated understanding of the wider legal and strategic contex.'
- 'Hailsham have the best reputation of all costs sets, in our view and from speaking with industry peers. Strength-in-depth is a strong point, but outcomes are what influence their reputation the most.'
- 'Hailsham Chambers Costs Team is incredibly strong with phenomenal expertise.'
- 'Hailsham Chambers has an excellent costs set with an absolute wealth of knowledge and experience. They are the go to set for any high profile/complex costs issues.'