Nicholas Davidson KC
Hailsham Chambers '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.’
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.
William Flenley KC
Hailsham Chambers ‘William has an encyclopedic knowledge of the law and is an excellent advocate in court.’
Nicola Rushton KC
Hailsham Chambers ‘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
Hailsham Chambers ‘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
Hailsham Chambers ‘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.’
Simon Wilton KC
Hailsham Chambers ‘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.’
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.
Derek Holwill
Hailsham Chambers ‘Derek is extremely intelligent and analytical. He is pragmatic and realistic and sets good expectations with clients.’
Francis Bacon
Hailsham Chambers ‘Francis is a class act. His legal knowledge and commercial understanding are unrivalled. His written and oral advice is clear, concise, and well structured.’
Imran Benson
Hailsham Chambers ‘He gives clear advice and is extremely good on his feet. He’s a joy to work with.’
Dan Stacey
Hailsham Chambers ‘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.’
Joshua Munro
Hailsham Chambers ‘His advice is fearless and commercially very sound. Clients find him very easy to engage with.’
Nicholas Pilsbury
Hailsham Chambers ‘He gives clear, commercial advice and is great with the clients. He is an excellent and persuasive advocate.’
Niamh O’Reilly
Hailsham Chambers ‘Niamh is phenomenally bright and well able to deal with the most complex cases. She is enjoyable to work with too.’
Henry Bankes-Jones
Hailsham Chambers ‘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
Hailsham Chambers ‘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
Hailsham Chambers ‘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
Hailsham Chambers ‘Alicia is a careful, thoughtful barrister. Her advice is thorough and well researched.’
Stephen Bailey
Hailsham Chambers ‘Stephen is precise and thorough. He is a robust and confident advocate.’
Richard Anderton
Hailsham Chambers ‘Richard is absolutely thorough and has fine attention to detail. He is also extremely hardworking and a team player in all aspects.’
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
Hailsham Chambers ‘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.’