We are delighted that two barristers from Keating Chambers are listed in Legal Week’s “Stars at the Bar 2017”. Brenna Conroy and Tom Owen are amongst 12 highly rated commercial barristers under 10 years call who were selected following feedback from barristers, clerks and instructing solicitors.
Brenna, who joined Chambers in May, comes recommended by instructing solicitors for her “can-do attitude“, “tactical strategy” and ability to “look at problems from the clients’ perspectives and propose practical solutions“. Tom, who also featured on the highly commended list last year, “has everything you would want of counsel” and is credited for his advocacy skills and ability to “fight his corner even in the face of adversity“.
The complete “Stars at the Bar” article is available, by subscription, on the Legal Week website and full extracts on Brenna and Tom are detailed below.
Brenna Conroy
Asked to define the key skills the junior Bar offer clients, Keating Chambers’ Brenna Conroy has a ready answer: “intellect, drive and exceptional advocacy skills are taken as a given”, she says, but what counts “is being able to provide added value.”
Her instructing solicitors would attest to all four of those virtues. They describe her as being “quick-thinking, hardworking and thinking outside the box”; another says she has “a wider understanding of not just the legal perspective, but tactical strategy, demonstrated by her proficiently arguing complicated legal points”
Another solicitor adds that “while she is totally on top of the legal niceties, she is equally able to look at problems from clients’ perspectives and propose practical solutions.”
Conroy says her aptitude for constructing persuasive arguments, both in her written work and orally in tutorials, was spotted by her university tutor at Oxford, who suggested she pursue a career at the Bar.
After that, she said, “there was no plan B”. Strong performances at the GDL and Bar Vocational Course at BPP Law School lead to legal work as a research assistant at Keating, before pupillage and tenancy at Hardwicke Chambers, where she practised from 2012 to 2017 – before re-joining Keating in May 2017.
Her move, she says, was motivated by the will to join a group of “exceptionally talented barristers” [with]a strong collegiate ethos”, one in which her preferred areas of work – construction law, property damage claims, international arbitration, and professional negligence work, are central to that set’s work.
Those instructing her point to her ‘can-do’ attitude; “enthusiasm about her work” and the fact she “clearly relishes getting stuck in right off the bat”.
Conroy though knows that success at the Bar is a matter of experience, not just enthusiasm. She says: “No matter how naturally gifted you might be as an advocate, to master the skill takes experience.” To her, “this means taking on as much advocacy work as possible in my own right, no matter how varied the work is”.
Tom Owen
“He has everything you would want of counsel,” says one satisfied solicitor of Tom Owen. With a practice background that centres on construction, engineering, infrastructure and projects disputes, but ranges from arbitration, to public international law, professional negligence, and back again to costs law and commercial litigation, Owen certainly has demonstrable versatility and diversity in his growing CV.
With a strong academic background, having graduated first in his BTPC year at Nottingham Law School, Owen has been instructed by the likes of Dentons, and DAC Beachcroft, among others, and enjoys strong support from his peers at the construction Bar, having previously been highly commended in this feature for his work last year.
His advocacy skills are a plus point. On being asked to cross-examine a witness, Owen “destroyed the other party’s case – such that they withdrew their claim before a decision was reached,” notes one witness. Another says: “He doesn’t back down when challenged by a judge and continues to fight his corner even in the face of adversity.”
Another notes that: “He really gets stuck into the detail, which means he has a full grasp of the facts and always thinks ‘outside the box’ in terms of the legal arguments and strategy”.
Several sources describe Owen as “approachable and easy to work with, which benefits clients”. From his perspective, Owen says, succinctly: “Open, clear and effective communication is key,” adding that: “It is important to give the utmost attention and commitment to each and every case and client”. In demonstrating how to give his best to the firms who instruct him, he is clear what matters to solicitors: “Delivering clear and practical advice is crucial,” he says.
As someone who is “personable and has a modern approach to his work”, Owen is likewise positive about life at the junior Bar, saying that: “[it] is a great profession to be a part of as a junior. There are plenty of opportunities and reasons to be positive.”