St Philips Chambers continues to enjoy an excellent reputation on the Midland Circuit for its property and construction offering. John Aldis is particularly strong handling disputes concerning boundaries, adverse possession, rights of way, and prescription. He recently acted for the respondent church in Liddle v The Incumbent of the Ashfords Benefice, successfully defending against an adverse possession claim by an applicant seeking to be registered as the proprietor of a flowerbed within the churchyard, on the basis of the incumbent priest’s possessory title and the 30-year limitation period afforded to spiritual corporations sole. John Brennan’s broad experience covers contested forfeiture applications, right of way disputes, and adverse possession claims. Christopher Buckingham specialises in commercial property matters, standing out for his ‘excellent advocacy’.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
- Profile
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Ross Hands and Justin Luckman in particular provide a faultless service and are a joy to deal with.'
- 'The clerks are extremely helpful, in particular Tom Kelly, who always responds quickly to requests for availability or costs estimates.'
- 'The clerks at St Philips are fantastic and the team is boosted by the arrival of Ross Hands who is a fantastic clerk. He is readily available and always willing to assist.'
- 'St Philips is a great set with strength in depth. They always seek where possible to accommodate, and provide excellent training programmes throughout the year to assist with meeting CPD requirements.'
- 'St Philips Chambers is an exceptional set with a number of excellent barristers and an efficient clerking team behind them.'
- 'St Philips is a go-to for more complex property disputes. They have a strong property team with a good variety of barristers of different levels of experience and specialisms.'
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.
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.
