Monckton Chambers is delighted to have been recognised and shortlisted for this year’s upcoming Chambers UK Bar Awards 2025.

The set has been nominated for ‘Competition Set of the Year’ and three members shortlisted for individual awards:

• Competition Silk of the Year – Philip Moser KC
• Competition Silk of the Year – Meredith Pickford KC
• Competition Junior of the Year – Daisy Mackersie

The shortlists are a result of extensive objective research and reflect achievements over the past 12 months including outstanding work, impressive strategic growth and excellence in client service. They honour the work of Chambers across the country based on the research for the most recent edition of Chambers UK Bar.

Thank you to our professional clients for their ongoing support and for taking part in this year’s research cycle and congratulations to all those shortlisted.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 13th November.

The full shortlist can be seen here.

It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that Members of Monckton Chambers announce the death of our colleague and friend, Sir Jeremy Lever KCMG KC, who passed away on 25 August 2025.

Sir Jeremy was distinguished for his enormous contribution to the fields of European Law and Competition Law both as a practitioner and academic. This was recognised by his being awarded one of the highest Orders, a Knighthood of the Order of St Michael and St George. Sir Jeremy was also a Fellow and Senior Dean of All Souls, University of Oxford, for many years and an annual lecture in his name is held in Oxford, organised jointly by Monckton Chambers, All Souls College and the Faculty of Law.

He will be greatly missed, and our thoughts are with friends and family.

An announcement will be made in due course as to the funeral and any memorial event. Any messages or letters can be sent to David Hockney at DHockney@monckton.com

We are pleased to announce that the Saudi Center of Commercial Arbitration (SCCA) has officially appointed Drew Holiner to its Roster of Arbitrators, with immediate effect.

The SCCA is a financially and administratively independent, not-for-profit legal entity that provides a wide range of alternative dispute resolution services in pace with international standards and best practices, with a view to establishing a modern ADR foundation in Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region.  The SCCA Court is comprised of 15 international experts from 12 different countries and is guided by a Global Advisory Committee.  The SCCA’s rapidly growing international caseload reflects Saudi Arabia’s commitment to establishing itself as an arbitration-friendly jurisdiction and a global hub for arbitration.

You can view Drew’s full profile here.

Following the successful completion of their pupillages, during which they experienced a wide range of Chambers practice areas, Charlie Coverman and Charlotte McLean will become tenants with effect from 30 September 2025.

Charlie has a first-class History and Politics degree from the University of Oxford, where he won the Gibbs Prize (proxime accessit). He finished first in his cohort for both Civil and Criminal Litigation on the Bar Practice Course. Before joining Chambers, he successfully appealed three cases as a welfare benefits advocate at the First-Tier Tribunal and completed five cases representing claimants in the Employment Tribunal through the Free Representation Unit.

Since commencing his pupillage, Charlie has gained experience across Chambers’ practice areas, including working on high-value competition, sports, and procurement matters.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Charlotte trained and qualified as a Solicitor, gaining experience in commercial and legal aid practice. She then worked as a Référendaire at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. She has a first-class degree in Classics from the University of Oxford, a distinction in the Graduate Diploma in Law, and a distinction in the EU Competition Law Diploma from King’s College.

Since commencing pupillage, Charlotte has built on her interest in competition and public law, as well as gaining experience across Chambers’ other practice areas including procurement, data and tax.

Congratulations to Charlie and Charlotte.

Khatija Hafesji is one of five new Trustees joining the legal and social justice charity, the Public Law Project. Khatija said:

“I’m delighted to announce that I have joined the Board of Trustees at Public Law Project, the legal and social justice charity dedicated to advancing fairness through public law.

Since 1990, Public Law Project has held power to account through key legal challenges. PLP’s recent work, delivered in close collaboration with its brilliant clients and partners, includes challenging the government’s Rwanda immigration policy, securing justice for the Windrush generation, and scrutinising the use of AI in public decision-making.

I am looking forward to joining the Board and supporting an exceptional team that is dedicated to expertise, equity, collaboration, and courage. Together we will advance a new strategy to protect and expand the frontiers of public law for us all.”

The Legal 500 Bar Awards UK seeks to recognise chambers as a whole and individuals (barristers of all levels of seniority), clerks, other chambers professionals and arbitrators from London and across England, Scotland and Wales.

The shortlist for the 2025 awards has been announced and we are delighted to have been nominated for 22 awards, across 12 categories

• Competition silk of the year  – Philip Moser KC
• Competition silk of the year – Meredith Pickford KC
• Competition junior of the year – Alan Bates
• Competition junior of the year – Julian Gregory
• Competition set of the year     
• Employment junior of the year – Jen Coyne
• International law silk of the year – Daniel Beard KC
• Property and housing silk of the year – Ian Wise KC
• Public law silk of the year – Robert Palmer KC
• Public law junior of the year – Julianne Kerr Morrison
• Public law set of the year     
• Public services and charities junior of the year – Jonathan Lewis
• Shipping, commodities and aviation junior of the year – Francis Hornyold-Strickland
• Sport silk of the year – Paul Harris KC
• Sport set of the year     
• Tax silk of the year – Valentina Sloane KC
• Tax junior of the year – Peter Mantle
• Tax set of the year     
• Technology, data and crypto silk of the year – Josh Holmes KC
• Technology, data and crypto set of the year     
• Senior clerk of the year – David Hockney
• Silk of the year – Mark Brealey KC

Congratulations to everyone that has been shortlisted! The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on the 24^th September 2025.

The full shortlist can be found on the Legal 500 website here.

We are pleased to announce that Jonathan Lewis has been elected to the Executive Committee of the Procurement Lawyers’ Association, as of yesterday 8^th May, at the PLA Annual General Meeting.

The Procurement Lawyers’ Association (or PLA) is an organisation to bring together all procurement lawyers working within the field of procurement law (whether private practice or in house, public or private sector, solicitor, barrister or academic, based in the UK or elsewhere). The PLA is intended to act as a platform to represent, promote and strengthen procurement law expertise. The PLA’s 3 purposes are to provide:

1. an external collective voice, e.g. in order to respond to consultation exercises;
2. a forum for in depth discussion and debate about key procurement law issues; and
3. training and know how.

You can read more on their website here.

Jonathan said “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to assist the PLA to continue to thrive”.

Monckton Chambers is pleased to have 35 Monckton members recognised in the Lexology Index – UK Bar 2025 report report across the following areas:

• Arbitration – Mixed practice or mainly acting as counsel.
• Competition
• Corporate Tax
• Govt Contracts
• Media & Entertainment
• Energy & natural resources
• Sport
• Telecoms

Lexology Index’s dedicated research into the UK Bar showcases the very best barristers at both silk and junior level across over 28 areas of business and commercial law.

Congratulations to all of our barristers who have been recognised. You can view the full report here.