- Head of Chambers: Grahame Aldous QC
- Chief Executive: Fiona Robb
- Tenants: 74
THE CHAMBERS This is a leading common law set based in London but appearing in courts throughout England and Wales and abroad.Key practice areas are personal injury, clinical negligence, professional negligence, fraud and serious crime, family, police law, employment and property. 9 Gough Square’s clients include the national union-based personal injury firms, specialist personal injury and other firms, local authorities, the Treasury Solicitor, the Serious Fraud Office, HMRC, police solicitors, and the Crown Prosecution Service. Their barristers deliver advice and advocacy in a professional and approachable way that fits well with professional clients’ objectives. They edit the leading text books in specialist fields (for instance Kemp & Kemp on Quantum) and provide in-house and external CPD training to solicitors around England and Wales. Alongside their dedication to client service and friendly, pro-active approach, there are several areas that make this set unique: it has a long history of acting for injured claimants who are union members and hence appear in many significant employers’ liability cases, for instance the House of Lords case of Corr v IBC 2008; the set has continued to embrace change in the provision of criminal court advocacy by successfully building up a highly respected serious fraud practice with success in high profile cases such as R v Bright and others (Independent Insurance Group Ltd); the set has a large number of senior and mid-level juniors with leading quality practices.
WORK UNDERTAKEN The largest group specialises in personal injury and clinical negligence. Leaders and senior juniors appear regularly in groundbreaking cases and the members cover claimant, as well as defendant work. This group has nine special interest sub-groups (for instance occupational health). The set publishes a series of PI books including: Asbestos Claims, Clinical Negligence Claims, Manual Handling Claims and Work Accidents at Sea and has amassed expertise in costs matters, especially CFAs. Complex fraud work is undertaken by the Criminal Team for the SFO, the RCPO, BERR,DWP and the CPS Fraud Unit.Criminal work covers terrorism,murder, violent and sexual offences with an emphasis on prosecution work for most London Crown Prosecution Offices. Twenty family barristers focus on the law relating to children. They represent local authorities, parents, guardians and children at all court levels in a range of cases including: care cases, adoption applications, inherent jurisdiction applications, abduction and private law applications, as well as judicial review hearings. They also regularly conduct disclosure applications where public interest immunity arguments may apply. The highly regarded specialist police law practitioners are involved in civil actions against the police, inquests (such as the Diana Princess ofWales inquest), every type of police led application, disciplinary proceedings, firearms and liquor licensing. The Commercial and Property Group has expertise ranging from general commercial contract litigation and arbitration, to sale of goods, consumer credit and leasing agreements, property work and insurance law. The Professional NegligenceGroup focuses on solicitors’, surveyors’ and accountants’negligence. The highly regarded Employment and Discrimination Law Team represents employees and employers in tribunals all around England and Wales. A team of CEDR-accredited mediators providing ADR services is growing in this set and several practices include regulatory and disciplinary expertise.