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Quality Statement

We are committed to excellence in all areas of service. We aim to deliver value for all our clients and welcome feedback on any aspect of the service we provide.

Service Standard​

We are regulated by the Bar Standards Board, covered by Bar Mutual Professional Indemnity Insurance and is registered with the Information Commissioner’s office. We are dedicated to providing a high level of service across all areas his practice areas. We provide legal services including advocacy, advice and training – across England & Wales, the wider UK and internationally. Our clients include law firms, individuals, domestic and overseas governments, non-governmental organisations and multinational corporations.

Contractual Terms

Our members work under the standard default terms provided by the Bar Council of England & Wales, known fully as The Standard Contractual Terms for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons 2012 (Updated in 2021). In addition, The Standard Contractual Terms Governing the Acceptance of Legal Aid Instructions for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons in Civil (Non-Family) Cases are adopted in respect of civil legal aid cases.

We operate an open and transparent approach in relation to the cost of our legal services provision. Our administrative team is able to help you in assessing the likely cost, if you are a professional client. We work upon the information provided by our clients and provided the prospective case is within our areas of expertise – and there is sufficient information – we can give a quote for fees both verbally and in writing, usually via email.

Publicly Funded Representation

Many criminal clients will be eligible for publicly funded representation through the legal aid scheme.

​Privately Funded Representation

Clients who do not qualify for public funding or who choose to pay privately may instruct counsel via a solicitor. That discussion will include counsel’s current and future availability and the likely cost for their services.

We operate two main pricing methods for privately funded work – fixed fee and hourly rates. Sometimes there is a need to use a combination of the two, for instance a trial preparation fee based on the rate per hour and fixed daily attendance fees. Full information will be given by our administrative team when consulted and fees generated will be backed up with counsel’s written log of work done.

Factors that will be taken into account when assessing and proposing counsels’ fees include:

• The apparent complexity of the case;

• The seniority of counsel;

• The circumstances of the case, including whether it is of public importance;

• The volume of documentation and likely preparation time;

• The potential length of engagement in the case overall and any trial proceedings.

We are often asked to agree varied fee structures such as:

• A ‘whole case fee’

• Fixed brief fee (case preparation, conferences, and first day of trial) and fixed daily fees (refreshers)

• An hourly rate for preparation and fixed court attendance fees.

• We are also amenable to considering differing payment terms, which can be discussed in detail with our administrative team at an early juncture.

• Value Added Tax and this will be added to the professional fees.

The fees you are likely to be charged are dictated by the particulars needs of the client and his/her case. A more definitive guide will be offered to you on first contact with our administrative team. There is no set upper or lower limit, each case would be assessed on its own merits. A formal contract between counsel and the client will be drawn up setting out the services to be provided, the fees for these services and payment terms.

In certain circumstances that may arise there may be additional work demanded of counsel which may result in extra costs to the client which you will be advised of at the first opportunity. These may include, but are not limited to: service of further evidence, changes in the client’s case, unforeseen lengthening of court proceedings.

Complaints and Feedback

We are committed to continuous improvement in all areas of service. We welcome any feedback on any aspect or our work, and will actively seek out feedback from our clients. If any aspect of our work falls short or expectations we would like to know about it and do our utmost to resolve any issues.

Complaints Procedure

We aim to provide an excellent quality of service at all times. If, however, you have a complaint, we invite you to follow the procedure below. Please note that we will not consider complaints raised more than 12 months after the relevant event.

Please address all complaints in writing to the Administrator.

Please make clear (i) Your name and contact details; (ii) The precise nature of your complaint; and (iii) How you would like it to be resolved.

If in writing, your complaint will be acknowledged where possible within 48 hours and considered and actioned by the Administrator within 14 days.

If a telephone complaint cannot be resolved there and then you will be invited to put your concerns in writing within 14 days.

The substantive reply will include (i) the nature and scope of the investigation; (ii) a conclusion on each complaint and the basis for this conclusion; and (iii) in the case of a complaint which is found to be justified, proposals for resolution.

If you are dissatisfied with a decision or any part of it, you may ask for it to be reviewed within chambers and/or you may refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

A record will be kept of all complaints and resolutions, and conversations and correspondence relating to them.

​Confidentiality​

All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary. Such people will include the barrister member or staff who you have complained about and the person who investigates the complaint. We may also refer the investigation of your complaint to an independent dispute resolution service. If we do, they are bound by the same confidentiality regulations. The Bar Standards Board is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its auditing and monitoring functions.

​Record Keeping

As part of our commitment to client care, we make a written record of formal complaints and retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of 6 years. A summary of the (anonymised) record is inspected regularly with a view to improving services.

​Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman

We hope that you will use our procedure. However, if you would rather not do so or are unhappy with the outcome you may take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. You have 6 months from our final decision in which to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be submitted within 6 years from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining or three years from when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

​You can write to the Legal Ombudsman at:

Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

T: 0300 555 0333 (charged at local rates – available nationally from mobiles and landlines)

Email enquiries@legalombudsman.co.uk

See also www.legalombudsman.org.uk and details of cases decided by the Legal Ombudsman in the past 12 months.

Complaints to the Bar Standards Board

If your complaint concerns a barrister who is not representing you and you are not satisfied with the outcome of our internal client satisfaction procedure, you should contact the Bar Standards Board. They can be contacted online by telephone on 020 7611 1444 or in writing at:

Bar Standards Board

289 -293 High Holborn

London

WC1V 7HZ

The BSB Barristers’ Register shows barristers who hold a current Practising Certificate and also whether they have any disciplinary findings against them.

Our Privacy Policy tells you what will happen to any personal data that you provide to us as a result of using this website or if you instruct one of our counsel to act on your behalf. The information is written for the benefit of general visitors to the website – if you are a client of one of our counsel, they process a wider range of personal data and deal with a broader range of privacy-related issues, which are set out below.

Personal Data You Provide

Your privacy is important to us. By providing personal information such as your name and e-mail address via the forms on this website, you agree to us contacting you with regard to the information provided.

Some forms on our website also include a check box asking you for permission to add you to our mailing list. This is an opt-in mailing list and your personal information will be used solely by us (and all such emails include a link for opt-out).

Personal data received by, or on behalf of, any member of chambers in their professional capacity as an advocate will only be used to prepare the case and represent the interests of the client in any proceedings and any related appeal.

The personal data will be kept stored electronically on a password protected and encrypted server. Any electronic transmission of the personal data will only take place by cjsm.net secure email using a secure cjsm.net email address, unless otherwise agreed in advance by the professional client. Counsel may also store the data on their own personal electronic device, which is suitably protected by password and encryption.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use the data you provide via this website to:

communicate with you, for example: we use contact details such as email address or phone number when responding to enquiries made via online forms

monitor website trends, for example: we use Google Analytics to help us aggregate traffic so we can monitor how the website is being used

operate our business more effectively, for example: we seek feedback and use this to help improve our service

Personal Data Related to Cases on Which We Are Instructed

Counsel will only share the personal data with authorised persons (other lawyers, state enforcement agencies and chambers’ support staff) as becomes necessary in representing the defendant. This will include sharing the personal data with replacement advocates who provide cover for certain hearings.

​Our "Lawful Reasons" For Processing Your Personal Data

The “General Data Protection Regulation” (GDPR) is the primary piece of legislation defining your rights over our processing of your personal information. The GDPR requires us to declare which of six “lawful reasons” we are relying on when we are processing your personal data: we operate on the basis of “consent” when sending newsletters (you won’t get sent a newsletter unless you have explicitly opted in to receive one)…. and we operate on the basis of “legitimate interest” when communicating with you in other ways (e.g. when responding to your enquiry).

​How Long We Keep Personal Data

Personal data may be stored by the website for a period of up to 90 days after which time it is removed automatically.

Personal Data related to cases on which we are instructed

Subject to any other legal considerations, any personal data retained on completion of the case will be permanently deleted 28 days after the later of the final conclusion of the case, the expiry of any period for appeal or the settlement of all outstanding financial matters.

Transfer of Personal Data

From time to time we may pass personal data such as your name and email address to other services that we use to send out newsletters and other communications (both electronic and print). However, your personal data will never be sold or transferred to an organisation outside the UK or the EU.

Personal Data related to cases on which we are instructed

Personal data from cases will never be shared with any third parties for marketing purposes.

Questions or Complaints

In the first instance we hope you will contact us directly with any questions or complaints (contact details are displayed prominently on this website). However, legal rights regarding privacy are the remit of the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and you will find more information about how to complain here: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Our Use of Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to monitor how our website is being used so we can make improvements. Our use of Google Analytics requires us to pass to Google your IP address (but no other information) – Google uses this information to prepare site usage reports for us, but Google may also share this information with other Google services. In particular, Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.