4 New Square Chambers continues to be one of the most prominent sets on the market for professional liability matters with a strong bench strength across both silks and juniors. Ben Elkington KC and Anthony Jones are acting for the defendant in HMRC v Ernst & Young, which explores important legal points surrounding the duty of care owed by tax advisors to HMRC. Neil Hext KC and Hannah Daly act for the claimants, while Jamie Smith KC and Miles Harris represent the defendant in Manchester Property Development Holdings Ltd v Kuit Steinart Levy LLP, a case concerning alleged negligent advice given by a firm of solicitors in relation to a revolving finance facility. Shail Patel KC took silk in March 2024. Alongside Ben Hubble KC, Patel has been instructed in Peter Breitenback & Ors v Canaccord Genuity regarding a high-value tax and investment negligence claim against a Canadian wealth management company. Isabel Barter joined the set from 2 Temple Gardens in December 2023. The professional negligence offering is also strengthened by the addition of Jack Steer, who joined from Hailsham Chambers in January 2024.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘James Barass and James Whitmore very helpful and proactive.’
- ‘Dennis Peck is excellent and always accommodating.’
- ‘They are the pre-eminent set for professional liability.’
- ‘The clerking is excellent and they have quality customer service.’
- ‘The clerks are some of the best out there. They are really easy to deal with and are always eager to assist.’
- ‘The clerks are top-notch, very responsive and effective.’
- ‘They have a strength and depth in professional negligence matters. They always someone suitable for the case.’
- ‘They offer a very good service. The clerks are helpful and knowledgeable.’
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.
Jonathan Hough KC
4 New Square 'Jonathan is supremely intelligent. His drafting and advocacy skills are excellent.'
Ben Hubble KC
4 New Square 'He has a real gravitas but with a sense of calm. His advocacy is polite but forceful.'
Patrick Lawrence KC
4 New Square ‘Patrick is wonderful to work with. He is excellent with clients, supremely bright, and an excellent advocate. He is at the top of his game.’
Graeme McPherson KC
4 New Square ‘Graeme is tough and thorough. He is utterly trustworthy, which is very valuable with any tribunal.’
David Turner KC
4 New Square ‘He is careful, analytical, and courteous. He’s a pleasure to appear against and doubtless a pleasure to instruct.’
Siân Mirchandani KC
4 New Square ‘She has an exceptional knowledge of property-related professional negligence. Every point is meticulously considered.’
Jamie Smith KC
4 New Square ‘Jamie is a brilliant lawyer with a superb eye for detail. He is also delightful to work with and richly deserves his excellent name at the professional liability Bar.’
David Halpern KC
4 New Square ‘David exudes confidence in all aspects of professional negligence. He is a pleasure to work with. He approaches all matters not only from a legal standpoint but also considering the commercial aspects and the client's overall objectives.’
Ben Patten KC
4 New Square ‘One the leading professional negligence silks at the Bar. A superb lawyer and a very solid advocate with a great feel for the way a judge will view a case.’
Graham Chapman KC
4 New Square ‘Graham is a thoroughly nice person, brilliant advocate, and commercially minded.’
Richard Liddell KC
4 New Square ‘He's fantastic with the details. He is a very effective advocate and cross-examiner.’
Helen Evans KC
4 New Square ‘She gives clear, concise, and accessible advice. She is fiercely intelligent and one step ahead of the opposition.’
Paul Mitchell KC
4 New Square ‘Paul's work is excellent both in terms of written work and advocacy. Paul is great to deal with, and he’s extremely responsive.’
Alison Padfield KC
4 New Square ‘Her written advice is always thorough and well-reasoned. She has good commercial sense.’
Daniel Saoul KC
4 New Square ‘He has a practical approach. He is good with clients and technically excellent.’
George Spalton KC
4 New Square Chambers ‘His breadth of experience and ability to pick up technical points quickly and comprehensively is invaluable. He is a very good team player with solicitors, experts, clients, and co-counsel.’
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 ‘He is extremely client friendly. He explains complex concepts with patience and understanding. His drafting is also excellent.’
Shail Patel KC
4 New Square Chambers ‘He is extremely client friendly. He explains complex concepts with patience and understanding. His drafting is also excellent.’
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.
Scott Allen
4 New Square ‘He gives clear, pragmatic, sensible advice. He is very user-friendly and very bright.’
Hugh Evans
4 New Square ‘Hugh literally writes the book on professional negligence. He is a fountain of knowledge in this area, being able to cite even the most obscure of authorities with little hesitation.’
Charles Phipps
4 New Square ‘Charles is one of the very best senior juniors practicing in professional negligence work.’
Carl Troman
4 New Square ‘Carl works very hard and he turns around work with impressive speed. His attention to detail and grasp of the issues is unrivalled.’
Miles Harris
4 New Square ‘Miles is an absolute star. He is a fantastic advocate who gets on top of the detail with forensic analysis. He is a pleasure to deal with.’
Isabel Barter
4 New Square Chambers ‘Isabel is incisive and articulate. She brings an astute legal mind to the cases and she is phenomenally hardworking.’
Timothy Chelmick
4 New Square ‘He is very good at giving sensible advice to difficult clients. He’s user-friendly and gets fully involved when necessary.’
Michael Bowmer
4 New Square ‘Michael is an extremely capable and professional barrister, who is a leader in the area of solicitors defence work.’
Nicholas Broomfield
4 New Square ‘He is an excellent tactician and offers sound commercial advice. He is very good on paper and an excellent advocate on his feet. He is really tenacious in cross-examination.’
Lucy Colter
4 New Square ‘She has a very good knowledge of professional negligence and professional indemnity issues for a range of professionals.’
Ben Smiley
4 New Square ‘Ben gives extremely competent advice. He is a fearsome advocate that the judges like. There is no aspect to professional liability that he is not capable of giving high quality advice on.’
Benjamin Wood
4 New Square ‘He is a great strategist. He is really user-friendly and instills great confidence with the client. He is concise and persuasive in court. Ben is a real pleasure to work with.’
Chris Greenwood
4 New Square ‘Chris has a great work ethic, an eye for detail, and works well as a part of a team. His advocacy is concise and effective. He is one of the leading junior barristers in his field.’
Andrew Nicol
4 New Square ‘His paperwork is excellent. He is responsive and insightful, coming up with neat responses to the issues.’
Tom Asquith
4 New Square 'He is an excellent advocate. He is confident, impressive, and measured in his delivery. Tom is also very responsive and excellent with clients.'
Stephen Innes
4 New Square ‘He has excellent attention to detail. His drafting is excellent and he’s a very good advocate.’
Paul Parker
4 New Square ‘He is a truly spellbinding advocate. He is politely devastating in cross-examination.’
Tom Shepherd
4 New Square ‘Tom is a fantastic advocate. His cross-examination is outstanding. Tom is trusted, knowledgeable and sensible.’
Benjamin Fowler
4 New Square ‘He is very bright and technically strong. He gets on well with the clients and is a delight to work with.’
Anthony Jones
4 New Square ‘Anthony is a polished and accomplished advocate. His oral advocacy is persuasive, and his written work is first-class. He is a pleasure to work with.’
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Jack Steer
4 New Square Chambers ‘He’s extremely user-friendly and personable. He is very good on his feet and his cross-examination is impressive.’
Theo Barclay
4 New Square Chambers ‘Theo’s advocacy is skillful and powerful. His written advice is clear and to the point. He is a joy to work with.’
Diarmuid Laffan
4 New Square Chambers ‘He is exceptionally diligent. He has an engaging and highly persuasive manner in court.’
Hannah Daly
4 New Square Chambers ‘Hannah is a standout junior. She is extremely clever and would be a fantastic addition to any team.’