Nicholas Bacon KC
4 New Square ‘Nick is a fountain of knowledge on costs. His advocacy is excellent and he is passionate about his clients and fights hard to win.’
‘Simply the best costs set in the country’, 4 New Square Chambers offers in-depth expertise at every level of call and across all aspects of costs and litigation funding, with particular areas of experience including wasted and non-party costs, funding arrangements, security for costs applications, and non-contentious advisory work. Nicholas Bacon KC, Robert Marven KC, Simon Teasdale and Stephen Innes all acted in Diag Human v Volterra Fietta, with this significant case about whether severance is available to save an otherwise enforceable conditional fee agreement heading from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. In Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust v Luke Hoskin, Benjamin Williams KC, Roger Mallalieu KC and Pippa Manby appeared in a case which now progresses to the Court of Appeal to clarify the principle concerning recoverability of agency fees in personal injury claims. Marven KC also appeared on the opposite side to Mallalieu KC and Teasdale in Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP v Kenig, a Court of Appeal case concerning if a beneficiary to a will can later challenge solicitors’ costs even though they have been agreed and paid by the executor.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The clerks, such as Dennis Peck, James Barrass and Tom Woolsey, are exceptionally helpful.'
- 'The clerks are all excellent: responsive, well organised and collaborative.'
- 'Clerks always reliable and helpful. James Barrass always goes above and beyond.'
- 'The Costs clerks at 4 New Square are always readily available, friendly and responsive.'
- '4 New Square is definitely the go-to set for costs work - with outstanding silks at the senior end and good strength and breadth across their juniors.'
- '4 New Square is the go-to chambers in respect of Costs. The depth of experience and skill of the leading and junior costs counsel speaks for itself.'
- '4NS are the best costs set in the country.'
- 'The set has unrivalled expertise in relation to costs and funding.'
Silks
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.
Robert Marven KC
4 New Square ‘Robert has it all and is the leading silk in the costs field. He combines an encyclopaedic costs knowledge with razor sharp intellect.’
Daniel Saoul KC
4 New Square ‘Daniel is very methodical and detail-oriented. He is not afraid to get into the weeds of a case, which is a very helpful attribute for a silk of his level, making him an excellent team player.’
2024 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.
Shail Patel KC
4 New Square 'Very well organised, good attention to detail and strong oral advocacy.'
Juniors
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.
George McDonald
4 New Square ‘George's costs knowledge is second to none. He is readily available to provide advice, which is invariably clear and concise and presented in a manner which enables the client to easily understand the strengths and weaknesses of their case. His advocacy skills are first class, he is quick on his feet and has an ability to forcibly argue his client's case in a persuasive and composed manner.’
Pippa Manby
4 New Square ‘Pippa is excellent. Her written advice is clear and concise and her advocacy is excellent. She knows the factual details and relevant legal principles inside out, and is exceptionally well prepared.’
Matthew Waszak
4 New Square ‘Matthew is one of a few leading junior counsel in relation to costs work. He is extremely knowledgeable in this area and understands his field well. He is very clear with his advice and a very strong advocate.’
Theo Barclay
4 New Square ‘Theo is lovely to work with and really knows costs and procedure. He is very responsive, which is want you need in costs counsel. You can helicopter him into a dispute and solicitors should not be afraid to do this as necessary. Costs is a whole new world - experts are needed, of which he is one.’
Stephen Innes
4 New Square ‘Stephen is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to costs, particularly where there are difficult or unusual points to be taken. He is hard-working and methodical, making difficult points easy to understand. His advocacy is clear and very persuasive.’
Ben Smiley
4 New Square 'Ben is very thorough and a pleasure to work with. His drafting is excellent and he provides frank advice.'
Simon Teasdale
4 New Square ‘Simon is an outstanding junior costs counsel and a star of the future. Exceptionally bright and his technical knowledge is superb, born from his infectious enthusiasm for costs. ’