The Legal 500 UK Bar guide 2026 was launched today and, Monckton Chambers secured a record number of rankings totalling 154. This includes 61 individual barristers from Monckton listed across 27 practice areas, 9 new entries into the tables and 24 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: ‘Monckton is the top set for competition. The strength-in-depth of counsel in the area is exceptional.’
• EU relations – EU law: ‘Monckton Chambers has an extensive range of very knowledgeable barristers in the EU law field.’ ‘Monckton are one of the most commercial, entrepreneurial sets of chambers. Counsel are always available no matter how busy they are.’
• Telecoms regulation: ‘The juniors are intellectually first-class.’ ‘Monckton Chambers is rightly regarded as one of the leading sets in telecoms regulation.’
• Public procurement: ‘Monckton are a go-to set for public procurement work with a great roster of leading juniors and silks.’ ‘Monckton are a leading set for procurement – they have unmatched strength in depth and are involved in all of the leading cases.’ ‘Monckton are still the strongest set for public procurement. They have an embedded culture of knowledge and awareness, a stand-out from other chambers for focussing on the end client.’ ‘Monckton are unrivalled in their procurement law expertise across the board.
• ‘Tax: VAT and excise: ‘Monckton is a market leader in this field.’

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

• Administrative law and human rights: ‘Monckton have always provided excellent counsel. Their strength in depth is notable, with members able to pick up and run with matters even at short notice.’ ‘If you don’t use them in this sector, then you are missing a trick.’ ‘Incredible depth of talent.’
• Data protection: ‘has a well-established reputation.’
• Sport: ‘specialising in the overlap between sports law and all aspects of commercial EU and competition law, Monckton Chambers has experience in sporting disputes before a range of fora.’

Members were also recognised as ‘Leading Individuals’ in:

• Agriculture
• Aviation & travel
• Court of Protection: Health and welfare
• Commercial Litigation
• Commodities
• Education
• Employment
• Energy
• Fraud: civil
• Group Litigation
• Immigration (including business immigration)
• International arbitration: arbitrators
• International arbitration: counsel
• International Human Rights and criminal law
• Insolvency
• Insurance and reinsurance
• Professional Negligence
• Shipping
• Social housing

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.

Monckton Chambers is delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for ‘Chambers of the Year’ at the British Legal Awards 2025. Now in their 16th year, the British Legal Awards—hosted by Law.com International stand as the benchmark for excellence in the UK legal sector. These prestigious awards honour the standout achievements of law firms, in-house teams, chambers, and individuals who are driving the legal profession forward.

The awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday 26 November 2025 at City Central at the HAC and will celebrate those at the pinnacle of the profession.

Congratulations to all those that have been shortlisted. The full shortlist for all categories can be seen 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), ranking second in his year of over 250 students in Politics, and achieved the top mark in International Relations out of 159 candidates. He finished first in his cohort for both Civil and Criminal Litigation on the Bar Practice Course.

Before joining Chambers, Charlie volunteered as a welfare benefits advocate, successfully appealing three cases in the First-Tier Tribunal. He also represented multiple claimants in the Employment Tribunal through the Free Representation Unit, including in a four-day disability discrimination case.

Charlotte holds a first-class degree in Classics from the University of Oxford, ranking third in her year for Classics and first in her year across three Honours Schools for Ancient History. She also holds a diploma in EU Competition Law from Kings College London, ranking first in her year. Prior to coming to the Bar, she trained as a Solicitor at Slaughter and May. She then worked at Duncan Lewis, focusing on strategic public law litigation. Before commencing pupillage, she worked at the Competition Appeal Tribunal as a Référendaire, where she assisted Tribunal panels with the conduct and resolution of competition cases.

Congratulations to Charlie and Charlotte.

Monckton Chambers is delighted to announce that at the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2025 we were awarded the prestigious ‘Competition Set of the Year’ and Valentina Sloane KC named ‘Tax Silk of the Year.’

The Legal 500 Bar Awards are determined on The Legal 500’s market-leading independent research, conducted by over 20 in-house and freelance researchers with in-depth knowledge of their practice areas for the annual directory.

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

We are pleased to announce that the Tashkent International Arbitration Centre (TIAC) has officially appointed Drew Holiner to its Panel of Arbitrators.

TIAC is an international arbitration centre established in November 2018 and officially launched in April 2019, which delivers zero-admin-fee, state-of-the-art arbitration services under a unique conflict-free operational framework to users in the CIS region and beyond.  The TIAC has been recognised for its innovation contributing to the advancement of international arbitration through initiatives such as the development of cross-institutional arbitration rules in collaboration with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC).

Lord Bellamy KC has been appointed to the Panels of Arbitrators of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC).

DIAC commenced operations in 1994 as an independent, not-for-profit organisation, and has since established itself as the Gulf region’s leading arbitration institution.  In 2023, DIAC administered 355 cases from 49 different countries.  Since its inception, DIAC has administered nearly 5,000 cases of varying value, complexity, and economic sectors. The combined amounts in disputes of total registered cases has reached more than AED 80 billion, the equivalent of USD 21.8 billion.  Read more here.

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.

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.