St Philips Chambers maintains ‘a fine reputation as one of the top sets for criminal law on the Midlands Circuit’. Richard Atkins KC, ’a great advocate with an easy courtroom manner’, defends and prosecutes in murder, manslaughter, fraud, and drugs cases, among others. In 2023 Rebecca Wade KC defended a mother charged with gross negligence manslaughter after her baby daughter drowned in the bath having been left unsupervised, with both parents under the influence of drugs at the time. Jonathan Barker has notable experience in high-profile cases – he recently represented social media influencer Mahek Bukhari, who, along with seven others, was charged with the double murder of her mother’s lover and his friend after their car was forced off the road into a tree. Ben Close, with a practice primarily consisting of ‘paper-heavy and multi-defendant cases’, has recent experience handling money laundering matters involving considerable cryptocurrency purchases. Jennifer Josephs’ varied expertise covers murder, sexual offences, and drugs cases.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Andrew Rourke is helpful, courteous and extremely efficient. He is backed up with equally efficient juniors.'
- 'James Withers and Somaya Sheikh are excellent. They are always polite and approachable and frequently go the extra mile to assist in making counsel available no matter what the court, type of instruction or short notice of the request.'
- 'St Philips is one of two leading chambers in the West Midlands and more broadly on the Midlands Circuit. Their acquisition of Andrew Rourke to the clerking team has supplemented an already strong team led by Joe Wilson as CEO of the chambers.'
- 'The clerks are, across the board, excellent. They understand the needs of instructing solicitors and work conscientiously to ensure that counsel are available.'
- 'The best set in Birmingham and one of the strongest in the country.'
- 'St Philips Chambers has a breadth and depth of counsel across the spectrum. They are competent, friendly and above all, never let you down.'
- 'St Philips Chambers has always been a set with a fine reputation and an excellent pool of counsel. It has recently attracted additional counsel, broadening that pool.'
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.
2023 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.
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.
