St Ives Chambers: continued success in a challenging year

Notwithstanding the huge challenges of the past year, it is especially pleasing that St Ives Chambers has continued to experience success.

The latest edition of the Legal 500 was a particular highlight, with Chambers enjoying 36 rankings in total. St Ives was ranked as a top tier set in family law (children and matrimonial finance) and social housing. Chambers was also recommended in regulatory crime, crime and property & construction.

The achievements of Chambers have been spread across all teams, demonstrating the breadth of talent that Chambers possesses. With two silks and 15 juniors ranked, the family team continues to appear in the most complex and high-profile cases in the family jurisdiction, both regionally and nationally. The civil team is ranked in social housing and business & property. The criminal team is recommended as a leading set, with two members of the team having been appointed to full-time judicial roles.

We have utilised the challenges of the last year to secure the future of Chambers in a number of ways. We are particularly proud that:

In addition to the unprecedented success in the Legal 500, St Ives was described as a “first class set” by Chambers & Partners 2021, with 29 rankings in total across all practice areas. Chambers was ranked in Real Estate Litigation for the first time.

Chambers was pleased to offer tenancy to our three exceptional pupils.

At a time when many chambers are reducing the number of pupillages on offer, we have again offered three pupillages for 2020-2021 and will offer three more in 2021-2022.

We have invested heavily in our IT systems. The management, practice and clerking of Chambers can now be managed entirely remotely.

From April 2021, Chambers will formally move to an entirely paperless operation. We believe that we are one of the first, if not the first, chambers in the Midlands to do so. The benefits, both in terms of efficiency and the environment, are manifest.

Our commitment to Equality and Diversity has been further cemented by being one of the first chambers in the country to become a signatory to the FreeBar Charter, which promotes visibility and inclusion for LGBT+ people. Chambers has continued to hold Equality and Diversity events for practitioners and students.

Chambers continues to welcome applications from skilled and dedicated practitioners in our core practice areas.

Jeremy Weston QC

Head of Chambers

Find out more at www.stiveschambers.co.uk