We have adopted a specialist team approach to our practices for many years. We feel that this is the way our clients want us to work, and that specialisation leads to the provision of a better service.
We have adopted a specialist team approach to our practices for many years. We feel that this is the way our clients want us to work, and that specialisation leads to the provision of a better service.
26/02/2016
On 26 February 2016, HHJ Simon Barker QC handed down his long-awaited judgment in Stevensdrake Limited v Hunt [2016] EWHC 342 (Ch).
The defendant liquidator had instructed the claimant firm of solicitors on a CFA in relation to a misfeasance claim issued against the former administrators of the company. The misfeasance claim was successful (in that the claim was settled) but there were insufficient recoveries to enable payment of the claimant’s fees. The claimant sued the defendant personally under the CFA for a sum of approximately £1m (including fees and disbursements).
Instructed by Jim Varley of Devonshires, Hugh Sims QC and Simon Passfield successfully argued that the retainer between the claimant and the defendant incorporated a term that the claimant’s fees would only be paid out of realisations and that the defendant had no personal liability for those fees.
Although not strictly necessary to do so, the court also went on to uphold the defendant’s alternative arguments that the claimant would have been estopped by convention from enforcing its strict legal right under the CFA, that the defendant entered into the CFA as a result of the claimant’s undue influence and that the claimant was negligent and in breach of fiduciary duty in failing to advise the defendant of the meaning and effect of the CFA.
Please click here to read the full Judgment.
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If you have any queries about the services offered by Guildhall Chambers you are invited to contact the clerks at:
[email protected] or [email protected]. If you would prefer to telephone then please call 0117 930 9000 (the telephone number for the London office is 020 3709 9100).
The following are invited to contact the clerks (as above) for our barristers’ services:
We will provide you with a quote as soon as possible and, unless you are informed otherwise, within 14 days. If your matter is urgent please specify this when contacting chambers, and we will work to expedite your query. Guildhall Chambers are used to receiving and responding to work on an urgent basis.
Our barristers act both in advising clients and in representing clients in court. Barristers from Guildhall Chambers appear at all levels of the civil and criminal courts, including the Magistrates’ Court, the Crown Court, the County Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Our barristers act in criminal work for the Crown Prosecution Service (hereafter ‘CPS’) and other prosecuting agencies, as well as for Defendants, at all stages in the criminal justice process.
In civil work, our barristers act for both Claimants and Defendants at all levels of the civil justice system.
We also act for public bodies (particularly in Court of Protection work). Some of our members are members of the Attorney General’s Panel Scheme, which means that they can be instructed to act for the government.
Members of chambers also act for clients in cases heard in the Land Tribunal and in the Employment Tribunal.
If you have any questions about whether a barrister from Guildhall Chambers is able to represent you or has experience in representing clients in a particular area of law, or in a particular tribunal or court, then please do not hesitate to contact the clerks.
Public Access (also known as Direct Access)
If you are a member of the public, the Bar Standards Board’s Public Access Guidance for Law Clients is available here.
This guidance will help you to understand how the Public Access scheme works and explains how you can use it to instruct barristers directly.
Please note not all of our barristers act on a public access basis. Please check with the clerks and on the Public Access page on our website to see which barristers are able to act on a direct / public access basis.
We have barristers who are able to provide services on a public access basis including in the following areas:
What are the levels of fees to be charged for Public Access work?
Guildhall Chambers provides further information on the likely level of fees to be charged for specific areas of work if the barrister is instructed on a Public access basis. We provide this information in relation to work on a Public Access basis for:
Please click on the relevant area to find out more information about the likely level of fees for the services of our barristers in these areas. This information is also available in hard copy format.
Please note that all of the above indicative fee information is still dependent upon the usual factors which may increase (or in some circumstances decrease) the likely cost of the barrister’s services.
Please read this information when considering the range of likely fees in these areas of Public Access work. For the most accurate information on the potential fees involved in your case, please contact the clerks.
If I instruct a barrister on a Direct Access basis, will there be any additional costs to pay or just the barrister’s fee?
It is also important to note that in relation to direct access work there may be costs, fees and/or charges which you will have to pay in addition to the fees which are payable to the barrister. In order to find out more about what (if any) additional costs arise, it is sensible to discuss this with the clerks (or the barrister who you instruct) at the outset.
Examples of additional charges which may be payable in addition to the direct access barrister’s fee include:
Barristers in the following teams most often charge on the following basis for the following areas of work (in each instance please contact the clerks to check that this system of charging will be applicable for your case):
Please note that this is guidance for the approach which is taken in most cases in the relevant area of work. It does not preclude the barrister from charging fees on an hourly rate or a fixed fee basis (as appropriate) where the circumstances of the case, the work which the barrister is required to undertake, and the nature of the instructions best suit that model.
All fees are charged exclusive of VAT (where applicable).
Please contact the clerks in the first instance for information about fees and fee quotes because they will be able to provide you with the clearest information about what the services from barristers at Guildhall Chambers may cost. The clerks will also be able to provide you with information about what may cause any fee quote or estimates to vary. The clerks can only provide you with a quote based on the information which you provide to them, so please endeavour to provide a written summary of the important aspects of your case.
All quotes will be provided within a reasonable time, and in any event the clerks will aim to provide a quote within 14 days. If you require work urgently, please inform the clerks about this when seeking a quote.
We will always aim to set out quotes clearly, but if you receive your quote and there is something that you do not understand, please do not hesitate to contact the clerks. There is also an enquiry form on our website which allows you to provide the clerks with information for the purposes of generating a quote for your case.
Barristers in chambers can charge on an hourly rate basis or on the basis of a fixed fee. However, unless a fixed fee is set when a barrister initially receives instructions to undertake work on your behalf, then the barrister will work on an hourly rate basis.
Our barristers will also accept instructions under conditional fee arrangements (colloquially known as ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements) however the barrister is not obliged to agree to work on this basis and will have to enter into a written agreement to that effect in order to do so. Please contact the clerks in order to discuss whether this is an arrangement which you would like to explore in the circumstances of your case.
If you have any queries about whether you have legal insurance available to you to cover your costs and/or provide funding in relation to your legal costs then please read the guidance provided by Legal Choices at https://www.legalchoices.org.uk/legal-choices/money-talks/after-the-event-insurance/.
Some barrister will work without requiring a fee from their client (this is referred to as “pro bono” work). However, barristers are not required to act on this basis. If this is something which you are interested in for the purposes of your case, then please contact the clerks. Please note that pro bono work is normally provided through the Pro Bono ‘Advocate’ Scheme. For more information on that scheme please follow this link https://weareadvocate.org.uk/ or call 020 7092 3960.
Barristers at Guildhall Chambers do provide their services to clients who are funded by the Legal Aid Agency. If you are unsure whether you are eligible for legal aid then please see the legal aid eligibility calculator at https://www.gov.uk/check-legal-aid.
Please note that barristers cannot do legal aid work unless they have been instructed by a solicitor. However, just because your case is eligible for legal aid funding does not mean that you cannot choose to proceed under Public Access scheme.
Timescales for a case may vary depending on factors such as the availability of the barrister, the type and the complexity of the case, the approach of the other side and court waiting times. Whilst all barristers will aim to complete any written and/or advisory services required on a case within 28 days this will not be possible in all cases. If there is a particular deadline then this must be raised and agreed with the barrister when any instructions are given to the barrister.
Please note that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic many cases (both civil and criminal) have been delayed and there are significant backlogs in the system. Whilst this will not usually alter the timescales for the services which barristers at Guildhall Chambers will provide, it may mean that timescales given in relation to the progress of your case through the courts will be affected.
Whether the fees are to be charged on an hourly rate or a fixed fee basis there will be certain factors which may increase the level of work involved, and therefore the fees which are likely to be charged (or the number of hours involved). Those factors include:
If you are concerned about the level of fees which may be involved in your case please inform the clerks at the earliest opportunity who will be able to discuss with the barrister how costs can be managed on the case.
Please not that fee indications are (unless expressly agreed otherwise) not “caps”, and if a barrister is required to do work on the case, then they will charge accordingly. We will always aim to inform you if the fees on the case are likely to exceed the fee quotes or estimates previously provided.
The best way to manage the level of the fees is to discuss the circumstances of your case (including any issues regarding fees) with the clerks when initially seeking to instruct a barrister.
Barristers at Guildhall Chambers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board (hereafter ‘BSB’). You can contact the BSB at 289-293 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7HZ or by telephone on 020 7611 1444. Please follow this link to the BSB website:
https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk.
If you are interested in seeing: (i) whether a barrister has a current practising certificate or (ii) whether a barrister has any disciplinary findings (which are published on the BSB website) then you can search the Barristers’ Register on the Bar Standards Board website here.
What is the complaints procedure at Guildhall Chambers, and do I have any further rights of redress if I am unhappy with how my complaint has been handled?
If you have any complaints about the services provided by a barrister at Guildhall Chambers, then please read our complaints policy here.
This provides information about:
Chambers does not have a time limit for bringing complaints under its complaints policy to be processed within the complaints procedure at Guildhall. However the LeO does have time limits for bringing a complaint, which is ordinarily (if the complaint arises from an act or omission after 5 October 2010) six years from the act/omission which is the subject of the complaint and/or three years from when the complainant should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.
You can also search the decision date on the LeO’s website here.
This shows providers which received an ombudsman’s decision in the previous 12 months, and whether LeO required the provider to give the consumer a remedy.
Guildhall Chambers have premises in both London and Bristol. Please find the addresses for our offices below:
Bristol offices:
5-8 Broad Street
Bristol
BS1 2HG
23 Broad Street
Bristol
BS1 2HG
London office:
Central Court
Southampton Buildings
London
WC2A 1AL
It is advisable to contact the Bristol offices in the first instance, because Guildhall Chambers do not have a permanent staff presence at the London office (although calls will be forwarded from the London office). This does not inhibit barristers from Guildhall Chambers from representing London clients or in appearing very frequently in the courts in London.
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