Sarah Hannaford KC
Keating Chambers ‘Sarah is a top KC and one of the best for public procurement. An astute and reliable strategist.’
Having established ‘a great reputation for its bench strength in public procurement’, members of Keating Chambers consistently appear for government bodies in litigation and on an advisory basis. Sarah Hannaford KC, Fionnuala McCredie KC and Simon Taylor all appeared in Siemens Mobility v HS2 Ltd, with the High Court dismissing all of Siemens claims in the long-running procurement challenge to HS2’s award of a contract for the provision of rolling stock to a joint venture comprising Bombardier and Hitachi. McCredie KC, Taylor and Rachael O’Hagan all acted for the claimant in Excelerate Technology v West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS University Foundation Trust, a dispute concerning the procurement of satellite and wireless equipment for emergency services.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Clerking is responsive and helpful. Will is a stand-out individual for client service.'
- 'Extremely friendly and personable team. Will Shrubsall leads the team excellently and maintains and builds client relationships.'
- 'The clerking team at Keating is always highly responsive, helpful, and keen to provide support.'
- 'Dominic Woodbridge is strong and commercial.'
- 'Keating has a great reputation in terms of its bench strength for public procurement.'
- 'Keating Chambers is on of the leading Chambers for public procurement cases.'
- 'Very strong set of Counsel - both leading and juniors - for procurement law.'
- 'Keating Chambers are exceptionally strong in the field of contentious procurement, particularly at the level of Leading 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.
Fionnuala McCredie KC
Keating Chambers ‘Fionnaula is a leading KC in public procurement. She has been involved in some of the biggest and most complex procurement cases in the courts. She is the brilliant in front of clients and even better in front of the judge.’
Keating Chambers
‘Very concise and to the point. Excellent ability to absorb large amounts of data and present a straightforward compelling analysis. Charles is also very good with clients.’
Rhodri Williams KC
Keating Chambers ‘Rhodri is an excellent all rounder. He is thorough and detail oriented, but also able to see the wider tactical picture. He has an amiable and clear client manner, and is an excellent advocate. His calm and measured style of advocacy wins him favours with clients and judges alike.'
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.
Simon Taylor
Keating Chambers ‘Simon is a real specialist in public procurement and one of the leading juniors in the field. He is frequently a first port-of-call for procurement challenges and is highly responsive and pragmatic in circumstances where initial advice is needed very urgently and on limited information.’
Rachael O’Hagan
Keating Chambers ‘Really good to work with, hardworking, and excellent written advocacy.’
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.
Ben Graff
Keating Chambers ‘Ben is a very strong junior in public procurement. He has been involved in some of the biggest procurement cases in the Courts.’