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Francis Taylor Building

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Francis Taylor Building is ‘one of the premier sets in the context of alcohol licensing and has excellent strength in terms of some of the leading juniors around.’ The set houses barristers who represent nightclubs, bars, restaurants, casinos, betting shops, and major festivals, among others. Gerald Gouriet KC chiefly acted in gambling licensing matters in 2024, but represented Veezu Holdings Limited as an intervener in Uber Britannia v Sefton MBC, a case concerning if private hire platforms who accept bookings are required to themselves enter into a contractual obligation with the passenger to provide the journey. Also of note is David Matthias KC, who is adept at representing local authorities with licensing policies, and has a great deal of experience in this area. Another key name to note is Jeremy Phillips KC, whose ’knowledge of premises licensing is immense‘. The set’s deep bench of juniors includes Leo Charalambides whose ’knowledge of areas around licensing, such as the public sector equality duty’ stands out, whilst also specialising in licensing. Charalambides recently led a challenge in the High Court by a south London nightclub to the lawfulness of holding a remote licensing hearing, during which its premises license was revoked.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
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Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'The number of licensing experts sets them apart.'
  • 'Without doubt the leading set for licensing and planning matters for the hospitality sector.'
  • 'It is a leading licensing set with some of the most famous names in the industry. It has strong depth in the licensing and regulatory field and they have been a joy to work with. Also, the clerks are fantastic. They have been amazing at helping us organise representation and dealing with important issues such as setting dates. They are integral and are very dependable.'
  • 'They are normally our first choice for a matters pertaining to licensing and advocacy as they have a wide range of expert legal minds who can be relied upon to provide expert advice with effective insight.'
  • 'They are one of the premier sets in the context of alcohol licensing. They have excellent strength in terms of some of the leading juniors around.'
  • 'The age range of the available counsel suggests that the next generation of expert licensing counsel will arise from the set.'
  • 'The clerks are always very engaging and quick to respond to any enquiry.'
  • 'It's always a pleasure to deal with the clerks.'

Lawyers

Leading silks

KCs at the very top of their field, with a long-established record of market-defining cases, and widespread endorsement from clients and peers. All silks appointed in the last two rounds are listed further below.

Leading juniors

Leading juniors are those with significant experience of key cases, strong market recognition from both peers and clients, and are seen as future candidates for silk.