Chambers UK Bar have launched their 2027 guide, and Monckton Chambers is delighted to be ranked as a set in 12 practice areas, with 68 individual barristers recognised for a total of 176 rankings across 34 practice areas. We are pleased to see 14 new entries and a further 14 improved barrister rankings. Congratulations to all members listed.

Monckton has once again been recognised as a Band 1 set for six areas:

• Competition Law 
• European Law 
• Telecoms regulation
• Public procurement 
• Indirect Tax
• Group Litigation

The Set has also been ranked in a further six areas:

• Administrative and public law
• Civil Liberties & Human Rights
• CDR
• Community Care
• Data protection
• Sport

Individual members were also recognised as “Leading Individuals” in an additional 22 practice areas:

• Agriculture & Rural Affairs
• Animal Law
• Aviation
• Chancery: Commercial
• Consumer Law
• Education
• Employment
• Energy & Natural Resources: Regulatory
• Environment
• Fraud: Civil
• Immigration
• Insurance
• International Arbitration: Arbitrators
• International Arbitration: General Commercial & Insurance
• International Human Rights Law
• Life Sciences Regulatory
• Local Government
• Property Damage
• Public International Law
• Restructuring / Insolvency
• Shipping & Commodities
• Social Housing

You can view the full list of Monckton Chambers’ rankings here.

he Legal 500 UK Bar guide 2027 was launched today and, Monckton Chambers secured a record number of rankings totalling 160. This includes 64 individual barristers from Monckton listed across 27 practice areas, 15 new entries into the tables and 18 improved rankings this year. Congratulations to all members listed.

Monckton Chambers has been recommended, as a Top-Tier set in the following five practice areas:

• Competition
• EU relations – EU law
• Telecoms regulation
• Public procurement
• Tax: VAT and excise

The Set has also been ranked in a further three areas:

• Administrative law and human rights
• Data protection
• Group Litigation

Members were also recognised as ‘Leading Individuals’ in:

• Agriculture
• Aviation & travel
• Commercial Disputes
• Commercial Litigation
• Commodities
• Court of Protection: Health and welfare
• Employment
• Energy
• Immigration (including business immigration)
• Insolvency
• Insurance and reinsurance
• International Human Rights and criminal law
• International arbitration: arbitrators
• International arbitration: counsel
• Property Litigation
• Public International law
• Shipping
• Social housing
• Sport

We would like to thank our clients and colleagues as ever for their kind feedback as part of this process. You can view the full list of Monckton Chambers’ rankings here.

Following the successful completion of their pupillages, during which they experienced a wide range of Chambers practice areas, James Fraser and Kyle Johnson will become tenants with effect from 29 September 2026.

James benefits from a breadth of academic and professional experience before joining the Bar. He studied Medicine at the University of Cambridge. He later completed a master’s in Political Economy at King’s College London, specialising in the politics of regulation and the relationship between judicial review and democracy. His professional background includes 18 months in the City as an analyst at a scientific consultancy firm and 12 months as an account executive at an AI start-up. As a law student, he won the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA) Moot, the City Law School GDL Moot and the Devereux Chambers Tax Essay Competition.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Kyle practised as a solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills in its Public Law and Regulatory team. He then served as Judicial Assistant to Lord Justice Males in the Court of Appeal, working on a broad range of public and commercial law cases. Kyle read Philosophy at the University of Cambridge before taking the Graduate Diploma in Law at City University, where he finished first in his year and won the public law essay prize. He also holds a First Class LLM from the University of Cambridge.

Congratulations to James and Kyle.

Professor Panos Koutrakos has been mentioned in the Opinion of Advocate General Ćapeta of the European Court of Justice in Case C‑538/25 Flugzeugherstellerin EU:C:2026:790.

This case was referred to the Court of Justice by the Federal Administrative Court of Austria. It is about the definition of dual-use items under Regulation (EU) 2021/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2021 setting up a Union regime for the control of exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit and transfer of dual-use items. The Regulation sets out a system of export controls on items and technologies ‘which can be used for both civil and military purposes’ (Article 2(1)). The questions by the referring court are about the export to Myanmar of a civilian aircraft designed for basic pilot training, and related items and technology: given that they could be used for reconnaissance flights and to train military pilots and, therefore, in connection with human rights violations, are these items of dual-use with the meaning of Regulation 2021/821?

In her Opinion, delivered on 24 September 2026, Advocate General Ćapeta proposed that the term ‘dual-use’ be interpreted on the basis solely of the item’s objective capabilities by reference to its physical characteristics at the time of exportation. According to her analysis, considerations such as the end-user, the (situation in the) country of destination, the potential for diversion, and other factors are not relevant to the definition of the product but, rather, to whether a Member State may require an authorisation for such product.

In her Opinion, she referred to the book written by Professor Koutrakos entitled Trade, Foreign Policy and Defence in EU Constitutional Law: The Legal Regulation of Sanctions, Exports of Dual-use Goods and Armaments (Hart Publishing, London, 2001).

Professor Koutrakos has written widely and advised on EU law governing exports, sanctions, and defence industries.  He is the author, amongst others, of the authoritative books EU International Relations Law 2^nd edition and The EU Common Security and Defence Policy.

Monckton Chambers is delighted to announce that Valentina Sloane KC was named ‘Tax Silk of the Year’ at the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2026.

The awards recognise those who are at the top of the profession, identified by extensive objective research.

Congratulations to all our colleagues across the Bar who were shortlisted for awards and won in their categories.

Monckton Chambers is delighted to have been recognised and shortlisted for this year’s upcoming Chambers UK Bar Awards 2026.

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

• Competition Silk of the Year – Tim Ward KC
• Competition Junior of the Year – Anneliese Blackwood

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 12th November.

The full shortlist can be seen here.

The members of Monckton Chambers congratulate pupil barristers Kyle Johnson and James Fraser on being invited to join Chambers following successful completion of pupillage, during which they have experienced a wide range of Chambers practice areas. All are delighted they have accepted.

Kyle and James will join Chambers as tenants in October 2026.

We are pleased to announce that 6 members of chambers have been appointed to the Attorney General’s Panels of Counsel following the competition launched this year.

Laura John, Michael Armitage and Kristina Lukacova have been appointed to the A Panel, Khatija Hafesji and Will Perry have been appointed to the B Panel and Clíodhna Kelleher have been appointed to the C Panel.

The Attorney General maintains three panels of junior counsel to undertake civil and EU work for all government departments in addition to its regional panels. The new appointments commence in September and last for a term of 5 years.

The current list of Monckton Chambers panel members is:

• A Panel: Andrew Macnab, Peter Mantle, Raymond Hill, Laura John, Jonathan Lewis, Michael Armitage, Kristina Lukacova, William Buck (Regional Panel).
• B Panel: Julianne Kerr Morrison, Conor McCarthy, James Bourke, Khatija Hafesji, Jen Coyne, Will Perry.
• C Panel:  Alfred Artley, Cliodhna Kelleher.
• Public International Law A Panel: Thomas Sebastian.

Lord Christopher Bellamy KC  has been appointed to the Panel of Arbitrators of the BVI International Arbitration Centre (BVI IAC).

The BVI International Arbitration Centre (BVI IAC), an independent not-for-profit institution, was established to meet the demands of the international business community for a neutral, impartial, efficient and reliable dispute resolution institution in the Caribbean, Latin America and beyond.

The BVI IAC aims to become the go-to institution for International Arbitration and all other forms of dispute resolution in the Caribbean, The Americas and beyond. The IAC will be a nerve centre for dispute resolution, thought leadership, seminars and trainings as well as various other initiatives that contribute to the expansion of Arbitration worldwide.