Sophie Cartwright KC
'Sophie is a very accomplished advocate. She has an assured, calm and confident approach to put a witness at ease and then catapult precise details at them.'
With an ‘excellent range of counsel of all seniority’, Deans Court Chambers continues to lead on prominent inquests and inquiries on the Northern Circuit. ’A very accomplished advocate’, Sophie Cartwright KC has played a notable role in the Manchester Arena inquiry and continues to lead on a range of judicial reviews and inquests. With strength and depth of experience at the junior level, the set can employ the abilities of Elizabeth Dudley-Jones, who is regularly instructed by local authorities and other public bodies to lead on of very high-profile inquests, with recent work including the inquest touching the death of Brianna Ghey, and Peter Smith, who has a practice that is primarily focuses on inquests into complex deaths in care matters. Also leading on inquests and inquires in the set are Oliver Carr, who leads on behalf of bereaved families and has been praised for his ‘painstaking preparation and focused advocacy’, as well as Tom Gent and Virginia Hayton, who have recently been instructed on a number of inquests concerning deaths in care, a number of which relate to the possible engagement of ECHR Article 2.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Pete Conwell always goes above and beyond.'
- 'Excellent and very personable. Pete Kelly is a star.'
- 'Ben Bennett-Williams is a star, responds immediately and helps resolve queries quickly and efficiently. '
- 'Andy Flannigan is an extremely helpful and efficient clerk and always does what he can to accommodate my needs. Pete Conwell is also very good.'
- 'Good quality counsel and if chosen barrister is not available, the clerks can always offer a suitable replacement.'
- 'An excellent set, with counsel at levels and experience, so able to provide a full service offering.'
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.
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.
Virginia Hayton
'Virginia is great to work with. She is excellent with clients and demonstrates a real depth of knowledge in the healthcare sector. As an advocate, she is clear, concise and extremely effective before courts and tribunals.'
Peter Smith
‘Attention to detail is second to none, as is his knowledge of the rules and procedures. Distils and simplifies often complex issues and gives clients and those instructing confidence.’
Tom Gent
‘He is meticulous, frighteningly clever, yet able to illicit the trust of a client within moments of meeting them. His advocacy is nothing short of brilliant, his legal arguments are spectacular and he is a pleasure to watch.’
Joseph Hart
'He is intuitive about cases and adapts to client needs with an instinctive knowledge of what needs to be done to get the best outcome.'
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.
Oliver Carr
‘He secures consistent outcomes through painstaking preparation and focused advocacy both in writing and orally. Oliver is pro-active in pointing to the relevant core areas of investigations in some very challenging circumstances.’