This page was last updated on March 2nd. Note that * indicates the sites I think are particularly useful.
Note also that there is a separate page for
individual barristers offering significant legal resources online
here.
Before the "normal" chambers, I would like to mention this one from the Inner Temple Library.
Current Awareness from the Inner Temple Library
provides up-to-date information regarding new case law, changes in legislation, and legal news,
which Library Staff think will be of interest to lawyers practising in the UK. The content is selected and updated daily
by information professionals from the Inner Temple Library in London with full links to the original source of the
information. There are usually many entries on any one day.
The site is constructed as a blog and makes full use of the powers built into blogging software with the archive of
past posts; e.g. (for just "A"!) abortion, adoption, advertising, advocacy, age discrimination, agency, agricultural holdings,
air passenger duty, airlines, alcohol abuse, animals, anonymity, appeals, arbitration, armed forces,
artificial insemination, ASBOs, assault, assets recovery, assisted suicide, asylum and attorney general.
You can subscribe with RSS and get
alerts every day. You can also receive "normal" email alerts, follow the blog on Twitter, get the Widget or
follow on Facebook.
-------------- and then alphabetically (excluding the "number" in the name)...
Arden Chambers
practise in Housing, Local Government, Property & Planning law.
There are a series of "EFlashes" on the site, which are immediate responses to recent
decision or legal developments. These can be sent direct to peoples' mailboxes or viewed on site.
One Brick Court is a long established
specialist barristers chambers based in the Temple, London.
They are recognised as leaders in the fields of defamation, privacy and the law as it affects
freedom of expression and the publication of false, damaging and intrusive information.
There are a large number of case reports on the site related to cases in which members have been involved;
all available judgments are prepared and supplied from www.casetrack.com.
4 Brick Court has an established reputation in Family Law and Immigration,
Crime, Common Law, Employment and Licensing.
There are a large number of articles on family law on the site, written by members of chambers and
grouped by subject area. Ancillary Relief, Experts, Family General, Private Law Children and Public Law Children.
There is also a Monthly Family Law Updater with summaries of recent cases, articles etc.
One of the barristers, Jacqui Gilliatt has set up a blog on UK family law called
Bloody relations
("Where there's a relative there's a bloody good argument to be had").
1 Chancery Lane, the Chambers of Edward Faulks QC,
is a leading civil common law set. Its practice areas are professional negligence, clinical negligence,
personal injury, travel and property, contract and commercial, public and administrative and property.
Members specialise in a number of fields including novel duty of care claims against public authorities,
education negligence, claims involving police, human rights, conflicts of law, consumer law, health & safety,
discrimination, social welfare law, undue influence claims and judicial review. Articles, news items and briefings can be accessed
on site.
**One Crown Office Row, the Chambers of Philip Havers QC,
is a long established leading civil set with particular strengths in clinical negligence (for which
it is widely recognised as the leading set), other professional negligence, public, administrative
and Human Rights Act law, judicial review, environmental law, personal injury, professional disciplinary,
sports law, immigration and VAT/Tax. They provide links to caswes on BAILII in which they have been involved.
Most importantly, they provide a
Human Rights Update which is a database of 900 reports and commentaries
on human rights dating back to 1998 with a weekly update co-ordinated by Chambers Academic Rosalind English.
The cases are taken from domestic courts and the Strasbourg court involving human rights points that
demonstrate the impact of the European Convention on domestic law and also explores the practical
impact of these cases for practitioners. This resource is made available free for all to use
(you have to register on site but it is not too intrusive). There is a good search engine and
it is possible to sign up for a weekly update by email. For less experienced users, it includes a
practical guide to the Convention and the Act; what are "Incorporated Rights", "Procedures and Remedies" and so on.
The Resources section of the main site also provides free access to articles authored by Members,
details of their cases and materials relating to their seminar programme including audio files of
many of their talks which can also be downloaded as podcasts.
Crown Office Chambers
is the largest civil common law set of chambers in London, with nearly 80 members.
Areas of specialisation include construction and commercial work,
insurance and reinsurance, contract, professional negligence, personal injury, health and safety, product liability
and clinical negligence.
There is a news section with reports on recent cases, a serious of regularly updated articles, and a set of
useful legal links.
Devereux Chambers,
a thriving and well-established set of 38 barristers,
has a wide client base ranging from public companies, underwriters and brokers to
local authorities, government departments, trades unions and individual litigants.
There is a section of news and case reports where members of chambers have been involved.
Doughty Street Chambers is particularly strong
in the promotion of human rights and civil liberties through the law.
The web site offers news, podcasts and articles.
5 Essex Court the Chambers of Simon Freeland
QC, is recognized by the main legal directories as a leading set in police law and has a proud record of having
been involved in nearly all of the police law landmark cases both in the domestic and the European courts.
Members of Chambers haves also been involved in such high profile Public Inquiries as the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry,
the Marchioness Inquiry, the Hutton Inquiry, the Bichard Inquiry and the Morris Inquiry.
There are case notes on the site from the cases in which members have acted (although not very up to date).
39 Essex Street
has 50 members, including 10 Queens Counsel. Members' practices cover three broad fields:
commercial, common and public law.
There are cases online (brief summaries) in their main areas of work.
Farrars Building, the Chambers of Patrick Harrington QC,
is a long established set of common law chambers working predominantly in the broad categorisation 'General Common Law'.
Chambers is not formally divided into practice groups, but there are informal meetings of those practising in
Personal Injury/Professional Negligence and Employment.
There is a free update on personal injury and another on employment topics which can be read online or printed.
Fountain Court Chambers,
the chambers of Anthony Boswood QC, is a long established and
substantial set of commercial barristers' chambers,
based in the Temple, London. There are 51 members of which 15 are silks. The site
provides news and reports of cases in which members are involved.
**Garden Court Chambers is built upon professional
excellence, a fearless commitment to further human rights and social justice working to the highest ethical
standards. Over the past 30 years, they have built a reputation as one of the leading multi-disciplinary
chambers in the UK with over 100 highly regarded barristers. Garden Court has been involved in many landmark
cases and decisions, particularly in the areas of crime, immigration, claims against the police and public
authorities and inquests.
They have created a bank of specialist legal resources on their web site, relevant to their practice areas
(take "Resources" and then "Legal Resources"). Case-law, legislation and useful links are all organised under
major headings such as Civil, Community Care, Crime, Family, Housing and Immigration. All of the resources
(cases, relevant legislation and useful links) are organised under these headings. The site makes extensive
use of the new Statute Law database, thus providing links to up-to-date versions of the legislation. The key
reported cases cited in each section involving Garden Court Chambers make extensive use of BAILII.
Chambers also produces key current awareness bulletins on Community Care Law, Employment Law, Housing Law
and Immigration Law. These are free of charge and sent monthly by email. You can sign up on the website.
*Garden Court North Chambers, the Chambers of Ian Macdonald QC,
is based in Manchester.
Formed in 1996, this is a progressive set of barristers with a strong commitment to publicly funded work and
to offering representation to those disadvantaged by discrimination and inequality.
The site offers a substantial number of case commentaries
in their areas of work and also a series of news items on legal rulings and topics.
Gray's Inn Tax Chambers provide
specialist tax advice and tax appeal litigation. There are reports of tax and VAT cases
on the site.
Hardwicke Building, the
Chambers of Nigel Jones QC, is a broad based civil set located in Lincoln’s Inn.
The site includes newsletters on Employment, Property and Injury, articles and case reports.
There are also online "calculators" for calculating interest, rent arrears payments and redundancy.
1 Hare Court (previously 1 Mitre Court Buildings)
the chambers of Bruce Blair QC, is a leading specialist set of chambers,
all of whose members practise solely
in the field of family law. The site offers case reports and lectures in family law and a
number of data sections and "calculators" for tax, benefits and currency conversion.
There is a good set of links to family law sites.
*11 KBW specialises in employment law, public and administrative law
and commercial law. The site has a "newsy" format and offers extensive case notes
(often with full judgment available) of cases in which members have been involved, as well as
seminar papers and other articles written by members of Chambers in the areas of employment law,
public law and European and human rights law. These are kept well up to date.
11KBW also produce a blog called
Panopticon,about Information Law, maintained by set's Information
Law Practice Group, led by Timothy Pitt-Payne and Anya Proops.
Information law is about the right to know, the right to keep private and the
boundary between those rights. It encompasses areas such as data protection, freedom of information, the protection of private information
under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, breach of confidence, and the regulation of surveillance.
The name apparently comes from Jeremy Bentham’s proposed new model prison, in which constant surveillance
would be a tool for moral regeneration; it has become an enduring metaphor in debates about the benefits and the dangers of systematic
information-gathering.
Keating Chambers, at 15 Essex Street,
was founded in 1934 and is one of the country's leading specialist Barristers Chambers in construction
and engineering related law. Members of Chambers are frequently involved in every aspect of
dispute resolution, in all capacities, in litigation, arbitration, adjudication and alternative
dispute resolution. There are regular case law review updates placed on the site prepared by the Professional
Support Director, Professor Anthony Lavers and you can subscribe to receive a regular update.
The Landmark Chambers Centre for Environmental Law
offers podcasts, articles and training courses on the latest developments from the UK's leading barristers'
chambers in environmental and planning law. Details of the regular seminars, podcasts and other events held by the
Centre are posted on the site regularly.
Maitland Chambers
has been formed from 13 Old Square and 7 Stone Buildings. Both chambers
were long-established sets practising commercial chancery law and considered
to be leaders in their field. There are news reports on the site as well as many articles written by members
and also case reports involving members (from Lawtel) on the site.
(from Matrix) The UK Supreme Court is the topic of a new blog from Matrix
and the Litigation Department of Olswang LLP.
The authors are solicitors and barristers specialising in litigation and with a particular interest in the work
of the House of Lords and the UK Supreme Court.
The introduction to the blog says "This blog is dedicated to the UK Supreme Court. The UK Supreme Court is the UK's highest court;
its judgments bind lower courts and thus shape the development of English Law. Since 1399, the Law Lords, the
judges of the most senior court in the country, have sat within Parliament. From October 2009, however, they have
moved to an independent court in the Middlesex Guildhall. To mark this historic development, this blog has been set
up to provide commentary on the UK Supreme Court and its judgments."
*1 Mitre Court Buildings, previously 8 King's Bench Walk,
have now set up a separate site
Immigration Barristers containing
links to recently reported cases in which they have been involved and a series of regular news items covering
the latest developments in the fields of immigration, asylum and human rights law.
They also offer solicitors and OISC approved advisors quick access to a specialist immigration barrister.
An email question is forwarded immediately to an available member of the immigration team
with, generally, a reply within 24 hours (no fee is payable by either the lay client or the emailing advisor).
Murray Stable is one of the largest and the most
innovative of the eleven stables of advocates forming Faculty Services Limited, the service company
of the Scottish bar. It was formed in 1991 and now has 11 QCs and 40 junior counsel.
Work areas include Commercial Law, Public Administrative Law, Employment Law,
Planning & Construction Law, Reparation and professional negligence and Family Law. There are
interesting sections on the site on how to instruct Scottish counsel for different people: a Scottish solicitor,
a lawyer outside Scotland, a member of a Direct Access Group and a non-solicitor. There is an
extensive series of articles on the site which are covered by a Creative Commons Licence, meaning
broadly that the material can be quoted for non commercial purposes without permission or fee.
New Square Chambers,
the chambers of Rodney Stewart Smith, is the Chambers
formed from the merger of 1 New Square and 12 New Square. The new set is
now one of the largest in Lincoln's Inn, with silks and junior counsel
covering the full range of chancery and commercial practice at every level
of seniority. The site offers a large number of reports of cases where the members have been
involved, updates to Sweet & Maxwell's "Lewin on Trusts", updates to Sweet &
Maxwell's "Minority Shareholders' Rights" and a free day calculator and
interest calculator and rent/mesne profits calculator to help with interest
calculations, procedural timetables and rent arrears calculations.
There is also a perpetual calendar (which provides a calendar for any year
which the user may choose) and a term date calculator (which provides
the dates of the legal terms in England and Wales for any year).
Old Square Chambers -
specialises in employment law, personal injury and medical negligence, environmental law
and product liability. There are case reports and articles available in these areas where members have
been involved, often with full pdf judgments.
*5RB (5 Raymond Buildings) is a leading set of barristers
specialising in all areas of media and entertainment law, defamation and freedom of expression. Most of
the leading cases in recent times have involved members of Chambers. In addition individual members of
chambers have recognised specialisations in breach of confidence, intellectual property & copyright,
data protection, restraint of trade, disputes in sport & pop music, human rights and multimedia,
broadcasting & telecommunications law. There are over 700 case reports on the site covering Media
and Defamation, Privacy and Data Protection, Freedom of Information, Sports Law, Intellectual Property
and other areas. The case reports include very recent ones and in many cases, copies of the judgments
are appended. You can also register on the site for email briefings of key issues and new cases covered on the site.
3-4 South Square, Gray's Inn
is a well-known set specialising in Commercial and Business law, with a particular emphasis
on Insolvency and Banking.
The site offers a monthly newsletter of case summaries, news
and articles relating to commercial law developments called "3/4 Digest"
in pdf format which can be downloaded from the site.
St Pauls Chambers, based in Leeds, Mancester and Newcastle
was formed by a group of ten barristers specialising in criminal law and there are now
over thirty practitioners.
The specialist department concentrating on all aspects of Criminal and Corporate Fraud
and Financial Services Act offences is particularly strong but there are also
experts in all areas of Family Law, Immigration and Civil Litigation.
Chambers produce an online magazine called
Regulatorybreach.com covering many aspects of regulatory law
including Trading Standards, Disciplinary law, Counterfeiting, Environmental law, Licensing and Carbon law.
Thomas More Chambers, based in Lincoln's Inn Fields, is a
substantial set of 30 tenants, supported by an energetic clerking team.
There are six main areas of practice: Crime, Family, Employment, Personal Injury, Property and
Public Law. There are newsletters available in Employment Law and Property Law and an archive of
all these maintained on the site. You can register to receive the new material as it appears.
Chambers Offering Significant Legal Resources online