Nicholas Davidson KC
'His many years of experience help him to stand out in a contested field when it comes to senior professional negligence KCs.'
Considered to be ‘one of the standout chambers for professional indemnity work’, Hailsham Chambers is highly experienced with handling professional negligence claims across a variety of sectors such as legal, finance, and property. Michael Pooles KC successfully acted for DWF and its insurers in King v DWF, which alleged a dishonest settlement was conducted by the solicitors. Imran Benson is instructed to act for the defendant in Skykomish v Gerald Eve, a case revolving around a valuation dispute of a block of student flats in Aberdeen. Simon Wilton KC was appointed silk in March 2024. Described as ’an excellent lawyer and advocate’, Wilton has extensive capabilities, handing a variety of negligence claims against solicitors. Deputy senior clerk Michael Kilbey retired in January 2024.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘The clerks are very accommodating and a pleasure to work with. Stephen Smith and Stuart Paley are brilliant.’
- 'Hailsham Chambers boasts an extremely effective clerking team. In particular, Stuart Paley stands out.'
- ‘A very friendly and experienced team of clerks who are able to direct work to the appropriate counsel. The clerks are all supportive and responsive to deadlines.’
- ‘Hailsham Chambers is a leading set for professional indemnity and insurance. The set has an outstanding reputation and first-class client service.’
- ‘A go-to set for professional negligence.’
- ‘Hailsham is an excellent set with a great choice of barristers both at junior and KC level.’
- ‘Hailsham remains one of the standout chambers for professional indemnity work.’
- ‘The clerks are fantastic. They are responsive, helpful, and commercial.’
Lawyers
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.
William Flenley KC
‘William has an encyclopedic knowledge of the law and is an excellent advocate in court.’
Michael Pooles KC
Jamie Carpenter KC
Nicola Rushton KC
‘Nicola is a brilliant tactician, who gets straight to the point with a no-nonsense approach. She is great with clients and has a wide knowledge of different areas of law that can be combined to create winning solutions.’
Simon Howarth KC
‘Simon is exceptionally good to work with and very collaborative. He is one of the best for financial services professional negligence claims and regulatory matters.’
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.
Simon Wilton KC
‘Simon is an excellent lawyer and advocate. His calm manner and good humour make him very easy to work with. His work is meticulous at all times.’
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.
Francis Bacon
‘Francis is a class act. His legal knowledge and commercial understanding are unrivalled. His written and oral advice is clear, concise, and well structured.’
Derek Holwill
‘Derek is extremely intelligent and analytical. He is pragmatic and realistic and sets good expectations with clients.’
Imran Benson
‘He gives clear advice and is extremely good on his feet. He’s a joy to work with.’
Dan Stacey
‘Dan offers a wealth of knowledge. He provides insightful and pragmatic advice while also taking the client’s wider objectives into account. His bedside manner with clients is second to none.’
Matthew Jackson
Joshua Munro
‘His advice is fearless and commercially very sound. Clients find him very easy to engage with.’
Niamh O’Reilly
‘Niamh is phenomenally bright and well able to deal with the most complex cases. She is enjoyable to work with too.’
Nicholas Pilsbury
‘He gives clear, commercial advice and is great with the clients. He is an excellent and persuasive advocate.’
Henry Bankes-Jones
‘He is incredibly knowledgeable and he gives sound commercial advice. He is great with clients and his advocacy is amazing at all levels of hearings.’
Alexander Echlin
‘He is quite simply superb. He gets to the crux of the case in no time at all and his advice is always clear and incisive. He is bright, responsive, and a joy to work with.’
Heather McMahon
‘Heather is a very intelligent barrister who works extremely well in a team to get the best possible results for her instructing solicitors and clients. Heather is very skillful at drafting documents. She is also a robust and agile advocate.’
Alicia Tew
‘Alicia is a careful, thoughtful barrister. Her advice is thorough and well researched.’
Richard Anderton
‘Richard is absolutely thorough and has fine attention to detail. He is also extremely hardworking and a team player in all aspects.’
Stephen Bailey
‘Stephen is precise and thorough. He is a robust and confident advocate.’
Alice Nash
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.
Tom Stafford
‘Tom is always at hand to deal with complex points. He is incredibly helpful and his drafting skills are very good. He is a safe pair of hands.’