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Compliance

Overview Complaints Procedure Policy Transparency – Guidance for Clients Instructing our Members GDPR Privacy Notices

Please find more information on these pages about instructing our barristers and our terms of business, our complaints procedure and our compliance with GDPR regulations.

Keating Chambers is committed to maintaining excellent standards and complying with all guidance provided by the Bar Standards Board, Bar Council and any other regulatory body.

Cyber Essentials

We have been certified with Cyber Essentials Plus. We have put measures in place to protect not only our own organisation, but also the security of our clients, by meeting a UK Government endorsed standard. Click the links below to read more about the Government backed scheme: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessentials/overview

Clients can request a copy of Keating Chambers’ completed Bar Council cyber questionnaire from cyber@keatingchambers.com

Working environment

Chambers and the Company are committed to providing a working environment which is free from sexual harassment and ensuring that all staff are treated, and treat others, with dignity and respect. As part of our commitment to maintaining a positive and productive working environment, we kindly ask that all interactions with our staff and barristers are conducted with respect and courtesy.

Complaints Procedure

Our aim is to give you the best possible service at all times. Keating Chambers prides itself on the fact that complaints about the service provided by its barristers are very rare but we are always looking to improve our services and we welcome feedback from both solicitors and lay clients. Complaints are taken very seriously and will be dealt with in accordance with Chambers Complaints Procedure, which is set out below.

Clients are in the first instance encouraged to discuss any day-to-day concerns about the services of our barristers directly with them or the clerks. If they feel that the concern or matter raised has not been dealt with to their satisfaction, they may make a formal complaint.

KEATING CHAMBERS' COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

Transparency – Guidance for clients

Our practice management teams are your first point of contact when instructing our barristers. Friendly and approachable, all the clerks have in-depth knowledge of our barristers and their specialisms, our areas of practice, and the court and arbitration process. Whether you require a single barrister or an entire team for a particular project, they will help you make the right choice. They will also arrange appointments for you, negotiate fees, and answer any queries you may have as your case progresses.

Members of Keating Chambers are all self-employed and independent practitioners. This allows two or more of our barristers to be involved in the same court case, arbitration, mediation or adjudication, on opposite sides – a common occurrence in specialist engineering and construction cases. It also occasionally happens that the appointed arbitrator practises from the same chambers as one or more of the advocates. Members of Keating Chambers and our clerking team are well-versed to handle this situation and stringent provisions are put in place in such cases to ensure that confidentiality is protected at all times.

Our members are all regulated directly by the Bar Standards Board (BSB).  The Barristers’ Register, which may be found here on the BSB’s website, is an online database which displays details of all barristers who are authorised to practice in England and Wales and who hold a current practising certificate.  The Register displays the dates for which a barrister’s practising certificate is valid.

The rules governing access to the services provided by barristers has changed in recent years, which means that members of Keating Chambers can accept instructions from clients in a number of different ways.

We would like to invite the following individuals to contact us if you are interested in instructing a barrister:

Professionals – Solicitors or other practicing lawyers;
Licensed access – Authorised licensed access clients are those persons and organisations and/or their members and/or their or their members’ employees (as the case may be) who have from time to time been approved as such by the Bar Standards Board. See Bar Standards document on licensed access regulations.
Public access – Members of the public who need legal services within one of our specialised areas and wish to instruct a barrister under the Public Access scheme. Further details are available in on the Bar Standards Board’s website.

Once we have had an initial discussion, received all documentation and assessed whether this is something we can assist you with, we will be able to provide you with an estimate (if requested to do so). This will be based on the work we currently think is involved looking at the documentation provided but is subject to change.

Fees

The barristers’ fees will be calculated as agreed between Keating Chambers and the individual in a variety of ways depending on the case. When assessing the appropriate level of fees, we take into consideration the importance of the case, the complexity, the volume of documentation, the skill and specialised knowledge of the barrister and the responsibility involved. Our most common pricing models are hourly rates, fixed fee or brief fee and refreshers. Brief fees are to be agreed in advance of work commencing in relation to a hearing or other similar period of commitment and a refresher is a fixed fee for each subsequent day of the hearing. Fees will include VAT where applicable.

Timescales

If requested to do so, the barrister shall provide the individual with an estimated timeline of when the barrister can deal with the work. There are many factors which will need to be considered when estimating when the barrister can carry out certain legal services. Please see factors below:

The availability of the barrister.
The availability of the client.
Complexity of the case.
Volume of papers.
The need for additional information or documents.
The approach taken by the other side.
Third party intervention.
Court waiting times.

Accessibility

If you would prefer to receive the information from our website in an alternative format, please click here to contact a member of the Practice Management Team.

Equality & Diversity

Keating Chambers is committed to the furtherance of equality and diversity at the Bar.

The Bar Standards Board Code of Conduct states that a summary of the Diversity Data submitted by Keating Chambers’ members, pupil barristers, and employees must be published on our website once every three years.

Chambers’ Diversity Data was last updated in September 2024 and a summary of the data can be accessed here.

For further information on our diversity and inclusion initiatives and our equal opportunities policy, visit https://www.keatingchambers.com/recruitment/diversity-and-inclusion/

Instructing our Members

Our practice management teams are your first point of contact when instructing our barristers. Friendly and approachable, all the clerks have in-depth knowledge of our barristers and their specialisms, our areas of practice, and the court and arbitration process.

Our Members

Whether you require a single barrister or an entire team for a particular project, they will help you make the right choice. They will also arrange appointments for you, negotiate fees, and answer any queries you may have as your case progresses.

It also occasionally happens that the appointed arbitrator practises from the same chambers as one or more of the advocates. Members of Keating Chambers and our clerking team are well-versed to handle this situation and stringent provisions are put in place in such cases to ensure that confidentiality is protected at all times.

The rules governing access to the services provided by barristers has changed dramatically in recent years which means that members of Keating Chambers can accept instructions from clients in a number of different ways. Please contact our clerking team if you would like to discuss the ways in which Keating Chambers’ members may be able to assist you or your organisation.

Terms of Business

The Code of Conduct has been amended so that, with effect from 31 January 2013, barristers are obliged under the Cab Rank Rule to accept instructions which are offered either: (a) on the Standard Conditions of Contract for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons 2020 (the “Bar Council Terms”); or (b) on terms which have been published as the barristers’ standard terms.

The Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR) and the City of London Law Society (CLLS) have negotiated and agreed a set of specimen terms and conditions which may be used as an alternative to the Bar Council Terms (“the COMBAR/CLLS Terms”).

Keating Chambers has given careful consideration to the implementation of new contractual terms and has decided that, from 1 February 2013, new instructions to members of Keating Chambers will be accepted either:

In accordance with the Bar Council Terms; or
In accordance with Basis A of the COMBAR/CLLS Terms.

In specific and appropriate circumstances, which take into account the particular client and the nature of the case, barristers at Keating Chambers may also be prepared to consider engagement in accordance with the other bases contained in the COMBAR/CLLS Terms.

When instructions are accepted under the Bar Council Terms an email will be sent to instructing solicitors confirming this. If the terms of engagement are the COMBAR/CLLS Terms then an email will be sent to Instructing solicitors confirming that the barrister and the solicitor intend to be bound by a contract incorporating the Terms and setting out the information required by the front sheet of the Terms, together with any amendments agreed.

The Bar Council Terms can be downloaded here and the COMBAR/CLLS Terms can be downloaded here .

If you have an enquiry in relation to the terms of which members of Keating Chambers will accept instruction, please contact the clerks on +44 20 7544 2600 or clerks@keatingchambers.com.