Planning

Leading Silks
2023 Silks
2024 Silks

Leading Silks

Landmark Chambers

‘Neil is a very calm, methodical barrister. He takes clients precisely through the various steps required, and equally methodically, takes inspectors or committees through them. His cross-examination is similarly calm, but direct when needed.’

Timothy Corner KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Tim is very pleasant to work with – he is responsive, clear and helpful. His written work is spot-on and his advocacy is clear, succinct, persuasive and stands up well under pressure.’

Morag Ellis KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Morag’s main strength is her pragmatic and practical approach to advising clients. She is clear and concise and gives advice with authority.’

David Elvin KC

Landmark Chambers

‘He has significant experience which means he is able to deliver great insight, identify key issues on any project and formulate a strategy which maximises the client's prospects of a success.’

Russell Harris KC

Landmark Chambers

Richard Harwood KC

39 Essex Chambers

Michael Humphries KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Michael has a deep understanding of the sectors in which he operates, not just the law. On his feet, Michael is a highly persuasive advocate who crystallises the issues and presses home his case with clear logic and calm reasoning. He remains the go-to KC for all infrastructure planning work.’

James Maurici KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Great technical skill and knowledge. Fully appraised of the law and statute as they evolve. Straightforward and direct advocate.’

Hereward Phillpot KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Hereward expresses arguments cogently and concisely in court. He is unfailing in his tact, preparedness and persuasiveness both in written submissions and court.’

James Strachan KC

39 Essex Chambers

‘James is excellent in every aspect. Very knowledgeable, excellent courtroom gravitas, puts his clients at ease. He is very user-friendly to work with.’

Robert Walton KC

Landmark Chambers

‘ Robert is at the top of his game. Client facing and very friendly. He is sensible but always gives highly commercial advice. He goes the extra mile.’

Rupert Warren KC

Landmark Chambers

Sasha White KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Sasha has an incredible grip on the key issues and he is able to extract the answer he requires from a witness with surgical precision. He is a real team player and always manages to get the best from his professional team.'

Christopher Katkowski KC

Kings Chambers

‘He remains the best in the business. He has many strengths but two in particular. First, he is a pleasure to instruct, highly responsive and provides crystal clear strategic and technical advice on the most complex of matters. He is a fantastic team leader who commands the full respect of clients and professional team members. Secondly, he is an outstanding inquiry advocate, hugely influential in front of inspectors and he is forensic in his cross-examination.’

Keating Chambers

‘Super bright, responsive and client-friendly. Charles is an all round superstar of the bar in more ways than one. He has unrivalled Supreme Court experience, making him the go to for court advocacy.’

Alexander Booth KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Alex is the leading appeal barrister at the Bar presently. He is tactically astute, works well with appeal teams, and is hands-on and available. His advocacy is second to none.’

Paul Brown KC

Landmark Chambers

Richard Honey KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘He has an outstanding ability to quickly understand very complex historical and technical issues, take the lead in guiding the team in preparation for the public inquiry and the different angles different witnesses could cover. His grasp of every detail and every drawing is outstanding as is his commanding cross examination of the other side’s witnesses.’

Craig Howell Williams KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Incredibly client friendly, incomparably thorough, and looks at issues with an inquiring mind.’

Saira Kabir Sheikh KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Saira is an exceptional advocate and a brilliant strategist. She is totally approachable and is utterly practical in her approach. She is highly respected by both public and private sector – one of the few top-flight KCs to achieve that accolade.’

Dan Kolinsky KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Dan is exceptionally able with the most wonderful, beguiling manner. A superb advocate.’

Matthew Reed KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Matthew is a formidable barrister. He explains difficult concepts clearly to allow clients to make the right decisions. Matthew plans meticulously, with a razor-sharp brain and lightning-fast reactions during cross-examination.’

Paul Stinchcombe KC

39 Essex Chambers

‘Paul is enthusiastic, enquiring and determinedly engaged from day one. He quickly becomes part of the team, able to both support and challenge its members from various professional disciplines.’

Timothy Straker KC

4-5 Gray’s Inn Square

Reuben Taylor KC

Landmark Chambers

Marc Willers KC

Garden Court Chambers

Michael Bedford KC

Cornerstone Barristers

‘Excellent at focussing on key points and distilling them from large amounts of information. Maintains very professional relationships with clients.’

Simon Bird KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Simon is quick to understand the case, and robustly challenge his clients' positions to ensure a strong case is made. He is very quick to respond to issues as they arise, both in the inquiry and beforehand, and is proactive and provides practical help in time-constrained situations.’

Christopher Boyle KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Christopher is a thorough, knowledgeable, and experienced barrister whose advocacy skills are second to none.’

Thomas Cosgrove KC

Cornerstone Barristers

‘Tom is very pragmatic in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a case and will work with you and the team to put together the best case that he can.’

Estelle Dehon KC

Cornerstone Barristers

‘Estelle is excellent, her ability to quickly grasp novel areas of law and untangle them in a way that can be understood by clients is very impressive. She shows great insight and her advice is pragmatic and easy to apply to our work in practice. She is incredibly bright, personable and able to distil complex legislation into simple terms.’

Douglas Edwards KC

Francis Taylor Building

James Findlay KC

Cornerstone Barristers

‘Approachable, articulate and in control in court and confidence-inspiring.’

David Forsdick KC

Landmark Chambers

‘David is truly excellent. His ability to cut through the noise and get straight to the issues is second-to-none.’

Andrew Fraser-Urquhart KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Andrew is fantastic to work with. He gets to grips with the subject matter extremely quickly, and provides quality advice.’

Robert Griffiths KC

Six Pump Court

Richard Ground KC

Cornerstone Barristers

‘Richard is a master of appeals. He provides an incredibly well-thought through strategy and gets the whole team prepared and complimenting each others skills. His closing submissions are delivered in the right manner and tone and always draw together the arguments succinctly but with a killer point or two.’

Thomas Hill KC

39 Essex Chambers

‘Thomas provides extremely thorough and sage advice, which on every occasion has been sound. He has particular strengths in heritage and design related matters.’

Stephen Hockman KC

Six Pump Court

‘Stephen has an excellent legal mind and is incredibly accessible to corporate clients. He adopts a hands-on approach which is most welcome.’

Gregory Jones KC

Francis Taylor Building

Graeme Keen KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Graeme has an excellent knowledge of town planning and is pleasant and courteous manner with clients, instructing consultants and all of the wider team. He is astute and very responsive, with an ability to work at pace and under pressure.’

Gwion Lewis KC

Landmark Chambers

Scott Lyness KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Scott has the ability to distil complicated detail into an easy to understand format. He is an excellent strategist and has a brilliant manner with clients. He is proactive and extremely helpful, very user-friendly and easy to work with.’

Suzanne Ornsby KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Suzanne provides her clients with a huge amount of confidence.’

James Pereira KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘James is an advocate who focusses on the real points in issue. His charm, combined with intellectual excellence, and clarity of approach can disarm a witness.’

John Steel KC

39 Essex Chambers

‘John has a brilliant eye for detail. He is able to identify the points which many barristers might miss.’

Andrew Tabachnik KC

39 Essex Chambers

‘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.’

Andrew Tait KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Andrew is a top level counsel at the planning Bar and very well regarded. He is hardworking, clear in his advice, provides calm assurance to the project team and is always a pleasure to work with.’

Stephen Tromans KC

39 Essex Chambers

Peter Village KC

39 Essex Chambers

Richard Wald KC

39 Essex Chambers

‘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.’

Jenny Wigley KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Jenny is a superb advocate, detail-oriented, able to identify the issues that matter and to address them with a laser-like focus. Incredibly bright, equally articulate and clear when advising in writing as well as when on her feet.’

David Wolfe KC

Matrix Chambers

‘David is intelligent, hard working and knowledgeable.’

Richard Glover KC

Francis Taylor Building

‘Richard is a very strong advocate, with a deep understanding of the law with the ability to develop pragmatic solutions.’

Richard Humphreys KC

No5 Barristers’ Chambers

John Litton KC

Landmark Chambers

Melissa Murphy KC

Landmark Chambers

‘Melissa is good with clients. When brought on to advise after the event, she does her absolute best to achieve a good outcome despite challenging circumstances.’

Paul Shadarevian KC

Cornerstone Barristers

‘Paul is approachable and able to maintain a good rapport with judges and inspector. He has a practical approach in his work.’

Megan Thomas KC

Six Pump Court

‘Megan is approachable and an excellent listener. She is able to tailor her advice and advocacy to the audience regardless of their needs, level of understanding or particular circumstances. She has excellent recall of case law, and is able to succinctly drill down into the most complex parts of planning law and use this to provide excellent concise but detailed advice.’