Jane Osborne KC
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Jane is tactically astute and skilled at handling young clients. She holds the respect of the court and her judgement is spot on every time.'
2 Harcourt Buildings is ‘an excellent set that conducts high-end prosecution and defence work’. Jane Osborne KC, with a reputation for being ‘tactically astute and skilled at handling young clients’, is regularly instructed in relation to homicide trials. Tom Nicholson recently prosecuted two brothers charged with the attempted murder of their father, with both suffering from drug-induced psychosis at the time of the attack. William Goss’ burgeoning practice covers drugs, homicide, and sexual assault cases – he recently prosecuted in a trial concerning the murder of a woman whose body was found in the storage area under her bed - the defendant was convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 34 years.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Keith Poynter is a great clerk and Gary Wright is also very personable and easy to work with.'
- 'Senior clerk Keith Poynter is first rate in his client care and ability to provide the perfect counsel for each case.'
- 'Gary Wright and Keith Poynter are utterly client focused, extremely responsive, and know the market inside out. They are also very adept at encouraging and nurturing new and existing streams of work.'
- 'The clerks are superb - they have a lovely ethos and work hard to make sure that chambers is run efficiently and well. They are a joy to deal with.'
- '2 Harcourt Buildings is an excellent set that conducts high-end prosecution and defence work. They have a range of seniority of counsel who are suitable for a wide breadth of matter types.'
- 'They are a good set with good counsel.'
- 'One of the best sets of chambers in London with barristers of the highest quality.'
- '2 Harcourt Buildings has real strength in depth when it comes to prosecution. They never disappoint.'
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.
James Dawes KC
2 Harcourt Buildings 'James is never underprepared. He is direct and determined. His cross-examination is forceful and effective and his legal submissions are uncompromising. Despite his strong approach to prosecution he is delightful company and has a great sense of humour.'
4
Paul Cavin KC
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Paul is calm under pressure, able to assimilate vast amounts of information quickly, a smooth communicator, and clever.’
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.
Kate Blumgart KC
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Kate is charming to have as an opponent but is always thoroughly prepared and completely on top of the case. She is a really persuasive advocate who juries warm to. Her cross-examination of defendants is usually devastating because she is well prepared and extremely sharp.’
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.
Tom Nicholson
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Tom's written advocacy and oral advocacy is very good; he is clear, to the point and covers all legal issues. He is able to present complex cases to a very high standard and is confident when dealing with tricky issues. Tom quickly gains the trust and respect of all present in the courtroom due to his legally sound judgement, his experience, confidence and calm nature.'
2
Catherine Donnelly
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Catherine is an extremely capable barrister. She works extremely hard, has fabulous judgement and is brilliant with both the jury and the judge. Catherine can go toe-to-toe with silks and come out on top.’
3
Sam Barker
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Sam is an exceptional advocate for his call. He combines excellent knowledge with common sense practical application.’
4
Jenny Burgess
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Jenny is an excellent advocate. Her meticulous attention to detail is obvious from the ease with which she takes the jury through large volumes of evidence. Her sound judgement and confidence means that she knows which points to take and which to leave.'
4
Edward Franklin
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Edward's organisation and legal knowledge is impressive. He has a close attention to detail and excellent judgement. In relation to advocacy, he makes detailed submissions which has the court spellbound.'
4
Natalia Constantine
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘Natalia combines razor-sharp intellect with an ability to deal robustly, but still courteously, with multiple experienced defence counsel. She takes responsibility for her aspect of the work without unnecessarily troubling others in the team. Natalia is an incisive advocate who gets to the real issue very quickly.’
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.
William Goss
2 Harcourt Buildings ‘William is an outstanding advocate. He has great flair in court, cross-examines beautifully, and has the ability to deal with opponents with courtesy but firmness. His instincts are superb, and his work is always of the absolute highest quality. He is quite obviously a star in the making.’