Steven Snowden KC
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘A solid advocate who prepares well and conducts himself professionally and pleasantly.’
Highlighted for its ‘formidable strength and depth in all manner of injury claims’, 12 King’s Bench Walk holds significant experience in handling a broad spectrum of personal injury matters, and along with its strong presence in maximum severity workplace and road collision injuries, is regarded as ’the pre-eminent asbestos and industrial disease set in the UK’. William Audland KC leads a team from chambers representing the Rugby Football League – the English governing body of rugby league – in a claim brought by former professional and amateur players of the sport concerning brain injuries; the case is running in parallel to a separate claim against the governing bodies of rugby union, which the claimants seek to join. Arun Katyar successfully represented the defendant in a contested three-day liability trial after an employee at a car part factory was trapped in a moulding press and narrowly missed being fatally crushed.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Clerks are always helpful and approachable. Rob Palumbo is always willing to go the extra mile.'
- '12KBW are excellent, with formidable strength and depth in all manner of injury claims'
- '12KBW is the pre-eminent asbestos and industrial disease set in the UK. They have an excellent bench. They offer external training that is a must attend for asbestos litigators.'
- 'An excellent set, particularly for personal injury, industrial disease and fatal injury work.'
- 'Good strength in depth. Provide excellent training programmes both in relation to industrial disease litigation generally but also dedicated asbestos claims training as well. '
- 'Clerks are helpful and willing to make well thought out recommendations. Efficient billing.'
- 'Support through 12KBW has always been exceptional. The strength of the set in general is excellent and market leading in my view.'
- '12KBW are a consistently strong set throughout their roster in my experience from KC through to junior counsel.'
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.
Stephen Worthington KC
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Superb attention to detail, very practical and down to earth. Absolutely excellent at mediations and settlement meetings.’
William Audland KC
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘No nonsense clear advice on complex issues, his friendly client focused approach. Outstanding both on his feet and in complex lengthy legal documents, able to maintain and persuade forceful positions and arguments.’
Michael Rawlinson KC
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Michael is a suberb KC. down to earth and great with clients with a razor sharp mind. Someone you need in your team.’
Paul Russell KC
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Paul's level of detail and understanding of his case are fantastic. He is very clever and meticulous. He is a very effective advocate and respected by both claimant and defendant lawyers.’
William Featherby KC
12 King’s Bench Walk
Patrick Vincent KC
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Patrick is super intelligent and super smooth with his submissions. He has an endearing quality of being able to make the most complex of legal issues appear to be a matter of common sense.’
Andrew Hogarth KC
12 King’s Bench Walk
Marcus Dignum KC
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Marcus is a formidable courtroom advocate. He is a sensible and pragmatic negotiator.’
2023 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.
Andrew Roy KC
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Andrew\'s greatest strength in my view is his phenomenal grasp of the law: substantive and procedural. He has an incredibly detailed knowledge of each area in which he specialises.’
Juniors
Personal injury - 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.
Philip Mead
12 King's Bench Walk
Patrick Kerr
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Inspires confidence with grasp of brief and in particular has excellent judgement. An absolute delight to work with he is very good at putting clients at ease. A deft negotiator and tactician in difficult cases.’
Nigel Lewers
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘His attention to detail is fantastic, he is able to get to the issues quickly and calmly he has exceptional client care skills, he is a pleasure to work with, but he is also technically brilliant.’
Niall Maclean
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Always immerses himself totally in a case - able to offer significant insights into the development of expert evidence.’
David Sanderson
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Impeccably polite, highly responsive and a joy to work with. Clients love him and his advice is spot on. His advocacy is incisive and he inspires real confidence in a court setting.’
Gemma Scott
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Gemma is a brilliant all rounder. She is a genuine expert in this specialist area, great with the clients and a great advocate.’
Hugh Hamill
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Hugh is fantastic on detail and really immerses himself in the case.'
John-Paul Swoboda
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘John-Paul has a real eye for detail. He is exceptionally detailed in his advice and very good with clients. He is outstanding on his feet and a go to junior for almost all case types.’
David White
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Good attention to detail, has a calm demeanour and develops a good relationship with the client from an early stage. Shows empathy.’
Michael Brace
12 King’s Bench Walk 'Michael is a patient and skilled advocate at interlocutory applications, able to guide all parties through complex legal arguments.’
James Sullivan
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Excellent prep for cons, detailed written notes, very clear thinking, user friendly, commercially aware.’
Ivan Bowley
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Meticulous preparation and one of the most knowledgeable barristers in the field of asbestos litigation.’
James Candlin
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘James is technically excellent. His medical knowledge is fantastic, which in a personal injury case is invaluable.’
Joel Kendall
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Joel has a very incisive approach providing clear, concise, robust advice. He is a tenacious but pragmatic litigator has a first rate technical understanding of the law and is highly regarded by both clients and instructing solicitors.’
Andrew McLaughlin
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Andrew has a fantastic attention to detail coupled with a very commercial and straightforward manner in dealing with things, taking the appropriate points.’
Angela Frost
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Angela provides excellent advice, and she has a great manner with clients. She gets good results in very problematic claims.’
Nina Ross
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Nina is very clever. She is clear and straightforward in her advice.'
Oliver Rudd
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘He possessed a keen eye for detail, listened and adapted arguments accordingly when he needed to, asserted his own position persuasively and by being collaborative in his approach achieved a successful settlement.’
Charlotte Reynolds
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Charlotte has an incredible attention to detail and is very thorough in her preparation. She is excellent in conference, particularly with guiding experts to the key issues.’
David Green
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘David presents confidently whether with clients in conference or to a hall full of delegates. He is excellent on quantum issues most notably concerning statistics.’
Rachit Buch
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Rachit has a phenomenal eye for detail, he is always brilliantly prepared, and genuinely has the knack of putting clients at their ease.’
Charley Turton
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘A really intelligent barrister who thinks things through carefully.'
Thea Wilson
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Thea is able to absorb vast amounts of complex evidence and forensically pick out the key points. Thea is great to work with and client’s respect her judgement.’
Catherine Peck
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Catherine is personable, hard working, is excellent on her feet. She often suggests arguments that are not considered leading to good settlements.’
Isaac Hogarth
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Provides clear advice on complex indemnity disputes which allows clients the ability to make early decisions and therefore consider the full commercial options available to them.’
Thomas Banks
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Tom is not afraid of novel or challenging legal arguments and is terrific advocate. Someone you can rely on.’
Arun Katyar
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Arun acts for defendants and claimants in serious injury claims, which gives him a wide range of knowledge and experience that he applies with aplomb.’
Anna Symington
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Thorough and a tough opponent. Good on detail. Has achieved excellent results in cases involving loss of sight.’
Edward Ramsay
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘He is a persistent and persuasive advocate, who is able move the most stubborn and reluctant of judges to be on his side.’
Lois Aldred
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘She is excellent at managing complicated fundamental dishonesty issues.’
Spencer Turner
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Spencer has a natural enthusiasm for the work which enables him to put the client at the heart of the case. Spencer provides excellent advice which is both logical and practical.’
James Pickering
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Quietly understated due to his modesty James nonetheless possesses a towering intellect and is able to master the law in a wide range of areas from international law to English procedural law before deploying it with lethal effect.’
Personal injury - 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.
Cressida Mawdesley-Thomas
12 King’s Bench Walk ‘Cressida is very thorough while also providing pragmatic advice. Cressida is approachable and efficient while always putting the client first.’
