The Legal 500 Rankings

The newly-published Legal 500 UK Bar directory again ranks chambers and its members highly in various fields of practice. We are grateful to our clients for their recommendations and support. Chambers is ranked in Band 1 for Private Client: Trusts and Probate and Band 2 for Court of Protection and Community Care and individual members are ranked in these fields and in Charities, Company and Partnership, Art and Cultural Property, Offshore, Pensions, Private Client: Personal Tax and Property Litigation. Six of our QCs are individually ranked and ten of our juniors.

The Legal 500 set overview, in which counsel and clerks were praised highly, says “5 Stone Buildings is ‘extremely strong in the area of contentious trusts and probate and has a good range of available barristers’. Work highlights saw Penelope Reed QC appearing in the Supreme Court for the appellants in the headline case of Illot v The Blue Cross and others, and demonstrating the set’s offshore expertise, Shân Warnock-Smith QC appeared in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands in Scotiabank v Brossard and in the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago in Basdeo v Governor of Prisons.”

“5 Stone Buildings is ‘the go-to chambers for all private client matters’, where ‘there is breadth of experience across the board from silks to juniors’ and ‘the quality of counsel at all stages of seniority is outstanding’. ‘The big advantage of the set is that you are always able to instruct counsel at the right level.’ For example, senior clerk Paul Jennings is able ‘to match complexity of matter and resources of funds to a suitable barrister every time’. ‘He takes time to get to know instructing solicitors’ and is ‘always able to get things done, even in the trickiest of situations’. First junior Dan Coote also reaps praise: ‘he always ensures a rapid response and if a barrister is not available, he provides a replacement – not just someone who is available but someone who is suitable for the matter at hand’. As a team, all the clerks are ‘top-notch’ and ‘ready to go the extra mile for clients’.”

Below are some of the individual accolades;

Shân Warnock-Smith QC
(Leading Silks; Band 1, Private Client: Trusts and Probate, Offshore and Band 2, Charities)
‘Her legal analysis is incisive and she has a great courtroom manner.’
‘The doyenne of the London offshore cohort.’
‘She is the perfect combination of utterly charming and totally persuasive.’

Christopher Whitehouse
(Leading Juniors; Band 3, Private Client: Trusts and Probate and Band 2, Personal Tax)
‘A solid junior in the tax space.’
‘He has an exceptional understanding of trusts, particularly relating to settled land.’

Mark Blackett-Ord
(Leading Juniors; Band 2, Partnership)
‘Unquestionably one of the leading juniors specialising in partnership work.’

Andrew Simmonds QC
(Leading Silks; Band 1, Pensions)
‘Simply superb.’

Miranda Allardice
(Mediators; Band 5, Contentious Probate Disputes)
‘direct and to the point; she knows her audience and gets the right deal done’

Penelope Reed QC
(Leading Silks; Band 2, Court of Protection and Private Client: Trusts and Probate and Mediators; Band 5)
‘Excellent at managing nervous clients.’
‘Absolutely excellent.’

Christopher Tidmarsh QC
(Leading Silks; Band 3, Private Client: Trusts and Probate and Pensions)
‘Considered and thorough.’ And ‘A delight to work with.’

Michael O’Sullivan
(Leading Juniors; Band 3, Private Client: Trusts and Probate)
‘Thoughtful and wise.’

Patrick Rolfe
(Leading Juniors; Band 4, Property Litigation)
‘He has a high level of technical ability and is extremely tenacious in court.’

Barbara Rich
(Leading Juniors; Band 1, Court of Protection and Community Care and Band 2, Private Client: Trusts and Probate)
‘She has an abundance of energy, her stamina is huge and her brain power is second to none.’

Tracey Angus QC
(Leading Silks; Band 2, Court of Protection and Band 3, Private Client: Trusts and Probate)
‘She is very thorough and likes to know all the details of the case inside out.’

Henry Legge QC
(Leading Silks; Band 2, Court of Protection and Private Client: Trusts and Probate and Band 1, Art and Cultural Property)
‘Formidably experienced in the art and cultural property world.’
‘Clients find him a reassuring presence and he clearly has the confidence of the court.’

David Rees QC
(2017 Silks; Court of Protection and Community Care and Private Client: Trusts and Probate)
‘He is a polished, effective, and – above all – authoritative figure.’
‘The first choice for complex and high-value matters.’

Leon Sartin
(Leading Juniors; Band 2, Court of Protection and Community Care, Band 3, Personal Tax and Band 4, Private Client: Trusts and Probate)
‘Incisive and always a pleasure to deal with, he impresses beyond his relatively modest years of experience.’
‘Meticulous in his analysis and very sound on issues of trust law.’
‘He delivers clear and pragmatic advice that one can completely trust.’

Sarah Haren
(Leading Juniors; Band 4, Private Client: Trusts and Probate)
‘She is proactive, gives pragmatic advice, and is a pleasure to work with.’

Luke Harris
(Leading Juniors; Band 1, Art and Cultural Property)
‘He provides pragmatic advice on high-value cases.’

Joseph Goldsmith
(Leading Juniors; Band 4, Private Client: Trusts and Probate)
‘Highly rated.’

Jordan Holland
(Leading Juniors; Band 1, Art and Cultural Property)
‘A knowledgeable and commercial advocate.’