Clerking & Administration

Clerking

At Eighteen Carlton Crescent, we are able to advise you as to the most suitable barrister to meet your individual needs.

Our Clerking Team have a wealth of experience for dealing with all your requirements, from booking counsel to negotiating fees. Their proactive dedication to you assists your case being handled efficiently, monitoring progress and keeping you fully informed at all times.

Our opening hours are from 8:30am to 6:00pm

Clerks

Jenna Belbin

Paul Cooke

Administration

At No18 Barristers Chambers, we are able to advise you as to the most suitable barrister to meet your individual needs.

Our Clerking Team have a wealth of experience for dealing with all your requirements, from booking counsel to negotiating fees. Their proactive dedication to you assists your case being handled efficiently, monitoring progress and keeping you fully informed at all times.

Our opening hours are from 8:30am to 6:00pm

CLIENT CARE

We are committed to providing our clients with a high quality service across a wide range of areas from family, civil, employment and crime.

On receipt of briefs and/or instructions the client will be informed of:

the basis upon which fees will be charged
the time-scale within which the barrister expects to complete the work

Any individual arrangements are logged on the diary system and the Clerks check that there is no apparent conflict of interest.

A client care acknowledgement letter is sent to notify the client that the brief has been received, logged on the system and the papers put before Counsel. The acknowledgement letter also confirms the following:

case reference number and name of barrister dealing with the case
contact details

Counsel will check papers within 48 hours of receipt to ensure that there are no obvious conflicts of interest. In such cases the Clerks will immediately advise the client that they should instruct another Counsel, in accordance with Paragraph 605 of the Code of Conduct.

It is vital to the smooth and effective handling of a case that we have sufficient time to prepare for court appearances and conferences. Many cases now require skeleton arguments to be lodged in advance of the hearing so it is therefore essential that instructions are sent giving ample time for preparation.

Paperwork:

It is Chambers' policy that all written work should be completed within 14 days of receipt. This standard will be applied unless you agree to an alternative deadline appropriate to your case. Any such agreement will be recorded on our computer system so that we can monitor progress to keep our commitment to you.

Court Appearance:

When you contact Chambers to book Counsel, we will advise you if the barrister of your choice has an existing commitment and establish your wishes as to the use of alternative Counsel. Should you wish to double book your preferred choice of Counsel, we will keep you informed as to the likely availability as the court date approaches, so that you may re-assess your options. In the event that a case settles or is adjourned prior to the hearing, we ask that you inform Chambers at the earliest opportunity so that the booking can be removed from Counsels' diary.

COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

In the unfortunate event that you have a complaint or would like to raise any issue with the service we have provided you should inform us as soon as possible. If this is not possible then we ask that all complaints are raised within 12 months as anything after this period cannot be raised.

If you would like to make a complaint in writing, please address it to;

Senior Clerk
No18 Barristers Chambers
Rownhams House
Rownhams
Southampton
Hampshire
SO16 8LF

Please ensure you include the following details:

Your name and address
Which member(s) of Chambers you are complaining about
The details of your complaint and what you feel should be done about it

Your complaint will be acknowledged and passed to our Head of Chambers, Mr Harry Martineau, or in his absence our Deputy Head of Chambers, Mr Beresford Kennedy.

All complaints are investigated within 14 days of receipt and you will subsequently receive a response in writing. Their reply will set out:

The nature and scope of their investigation
Their conclusion on the complaint and the basis for their conclusion
If they find that you are justified in your complaint, their proposals for resolving the complaint

We hope that you will use our in house procedures. However if you would rather not do so or are unhappy with the outcome you do have the choice of taking up your complaint with the Bar Council. You can write to them at:

Complaints Department
The General Council Of The Bar
289-293 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7HZ

Telephone: 020 7242 0082

www.barcouncil.org.uk

OUR POLICY

As part of our commitment to client care we make a written record of any complaint using our Corrective Action Report. The Senior Clerk conducts an annual review of all complaints to detect any emerging or recurrent trends and will assess the need for prevention action, and either instigate the necessary measures in liaison with the relevant personnel or report proposals to the Management Committee.