Brick Court Chambers 100 Years EBook

figure of fun, but if so, one would be gravely mistaken. Hirst’s success at the bar, and the considerable following he attracted, came from an ability very quickly to put his finger on the point that mattered, having good judgment, and using his larger than life personal presence to advantage.

He was also a thoroughly nice and decent man. He had been a successful Chairman of the Bar in 2000, the first Brick Court member to be chairman since Alexander in 1985. Indeed, it was Alexander who had first asked Jonathan to become involved in Bar Council activity. It was also rightly Jonathan Sumption QC thought by chambers that Hirst might handle well some of the people management issues which a head of chambers has to confront.

Sumption became a national figure (of sorts) in Australia when the silk who was due to lead a long trial involving Channel 7 TV developed cancer and had to withdraw. A reporter from the Murdoch press phoned Ian Moyler, pretended to be Sumption’s Australian junior and said he needed to speak to him urgently. Moyler said that he was not in chambers but was away closing up his chateau in France. This led to a fascination amongst the Australian press about the British mediaeval history don who had a chateau in France and was being paid what in Australian terms was an enormous sum for appearing in court there.

Peregrine Simon went to the bench in 2002, Paul Walker in 2004, David Lloyd Jones in 2005 and Gerald Barling in 2007. Paul Walker retired in 2019, as did Gerald Barling who was President of the Competition Appeal Tribunal for much of his time on the bench. Both have returned to chambers as arbitrators. Nicholas Chambers became Mercantile Judge in Cardiff in 1999 and returned to chambers as an arbitrator and mediator in 2012. Peregrine Simon was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2015 and retired in 2020, also returning to chambers as an arbitrator.

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