39 Essex Chambers is a notable set in the fields of planning, environment and infrastructure. The team is praised for having an ‘emerging cohort of talented juniors’ and silks who are ’well-known for their excellence within the practice area.’ James Strachan KC led the ‘bright and articulate’ Rose Grogan in Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport (No.2) – a revival of the litigation concerning the proposed construction of a road tunnel under Stonehenge. The main objectors were represented by barristers who have also separately been involved in other notable cases; Victoria Hutton having represented London Luton Airport Operations Limited in proceedings concerning the airport's proposed expansion, Richard Harwood OBE KC working on the second challenge to the DCO for the re-opening of Manston Airport and Christiaan Zwart representing a private landowner opposing the Aquind electricity interconnector.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
- Profile
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Andrew Poyser and Elliott Hurrell are impeccable.'
- 'Andrew Poyser is comfortably the best clerk to work with. He knows his barristers very well and runs them as a seamless team. He really is excellent.'
- 'Andrew Poyser deserves special mention as someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty and who has truly integrated himself into the environmental and planning legal community. He is unsurpassed!'
- 'Oliver York is brilliant, he always comes back extremely quickly and is very efficient.'
- 'The clerking team is fantastically helpful and very supportive of service as a whole.'
- '39 Essex is a strong growing set in the fields of planning, environment and infrastructure and has an emerging cohort of talented juniors.'
- '39 Essex has a fantastic team of planning barristers. It has a range of silks and juniors who are well known for their excellence in the area of planning law.'
- '39 Essex has a pre-eminent planning law team with silks and juniors who are at the forefront of the industry. The set has experience across the board ranging from large infrastructure projects, major housing development and also landmark cases before the courts.'
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.
Thomas Hill KC
‘Thomas provides extremely thorough and sage advice, which on every occasion has been sound. He has particular strengths in heritage and design related matters.’
John Steel KC
‘John has a brilliant eye for detail. He is able to identify the points which many barristers might miss.’
Andrew Tabachnik KC
‘Andrew loves a challenge and it shows. A strategic thinker who helps bring a team together. He breaks down complex issues into bite-sized chunks. He is an excellent communicator and is able to get points across well. He is committed to delivering successful outcomes for clients.’
Stephen Tromans KC
Peter Village KC
Richard Wald KC
‘On his feet, Richard combines intellectual rigour with precision, charm and humour. He has an astute awareness of the tribunal – no-one else comes close. Richard has the ability to be selective and discerning in selecting his grounds and arguments, and to pursue effective and achievable strategies for overall success beyond the confines of the immediate claim.’
2024 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.
James Burton
‘James is a clear, persistent and fearless advocate. He presents his arguments attractively and is not put off by judicial interventions.’
Celina Colquhoun
‘Very knowledgeable and commercial with considerable insight into the intricacies of planning enforcement matters and law which is quite a niche specialism even within planning - and unwavering when under fierce judicial questioning.’
Victoria Hutton
‘Victoria is a first rate barrister. She is brilliant with clients and approaches everything with a clear and calm manner. Her attention to detail, ability to cut to the key issues quickly and advocacy skills are all strong points.’
Christiaan Zwart
‘Christiaan has extensive experience in planning and is able to leverage this to help clients with sound strategy to achieve commercial outcomes. He is particularly helpful in this regard and excellent at getting to the heart of a matter in complex cases.’
Ned Helme
‘Ned is one of the most hard-working, intelligent and imaginative barristers. He is also extremely willing to be brave for someone who is instinctively risk-averse – which means clients get the best of both worlds: counsel of caution and courageous, intelligent and imaginative advocacy on their behalf.’
Philippa Jackson
‘Philippa has clarity of thought and speed of understanding. She is helpful, thoughtful and conscientious and very personable.’
Daniel Stedman Jones
‘Daniel is detail-orientated and astute. He is also an adept advocate, who can readily adapt his style to his audience.’
John Pugh-Smith
Katherine Barnes
‘Crystal-clear advocacy, measured, calm and collected. Spot-on.’
Jonathan Darby
‘Jonathan is very good with clients and at getting up to speed on technical points. He has a calm and easy manner, putting clients at ease immediately. Jonathan is a delight to work with.’
Stephanie David
‘Stephanie is a brilliantly effective advocate. She is able to shape her analysis to the problem at hand. Stephanie is also very hardworking and clients love working with her.’
Catherine Dobson
‘Catherine is brilliant. She has an incredibly sharp legal brain and extracts the key legal issues quickly, analyses them, and for the purposes of her advice condenses them into digestible concepts which are commercial and easily acted upon.’
Rose Grogan
‘Rose is one of the best junior barristers in practice in the fields of planning, environment and infrastructure. She is bright, articulate, presents and reads situations extremely well, grasping complex and difficult new subject and challenge areas with commensurate skill and ability.’
Rising stars
Rising stars at the Bar are defined as barristers between four and eight years’ call who are seen as up-and-coming members of the Bar in their respective practice areas by clients and peers alike. They will already be instructed in high-profile, complex, and high-value contentious and non-contentious matters, working with and opposite more experienced leading counsel.
Flora Curtis
‘Flora displays impressive attention to detail.’
Ruth Keating
‘Ruth is incredibly bright and goes the extra mile to assist her clients. Her technical understanding of the law is exceptional, and she worked very well with leading counsel in pulling together submissions on a novel area of work. She is hugely enthusiastic and diligent.’
Daniel Kozelko
‘Dan is exceptionally talented and is destined to go far at the planning Bar. He is intelligent, personable and has a real will to win. He also finds points in cases that have not been spotted by others.’
Gethin Thomas
‘Gethin is responsive and clear. He provides practical advice and has strong legal analysis skills.’