Transparency Rules

Farrar’s Building – About Us

Our core areas of practice and the legal services we provide

Farrar’s Building is a long-established specialist civil and common law set of chambers. Our barristers practice in the following core areas:

Personal injury: This is the largest field of practice within chambers. Our barristers provide advice, drafting and specialist advocacy services in the whole spectrum of cases ranging from catastrophic brain and spinal injury claims to lower value multi-track and fast-track work. Barristers in chambers act for insurance companies, corporate bodies and individual clients at all levels of the civil court system, from the County Court up to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

Serious and white-collar crime: Chambers has a specialist criminal team, involved in major fraud and serious crime cases. Our barristers advise and represent clients facing criminal charges in the Crown Court, and also act for clients in the High Court and Court of Criminal Appeal. Our barristers also act for the Crown Prosecution Service.

Health and safety: The barristers in the health and safety team provide advice and representation to a range of clients, including companies, individuals and insurance companies. Our barristers act for clients across the full range of health and safety matters, from representing clients facing charges in the Magistrates’ and Crown Courts to acting for interested parties at inquests and public inquiries.

Employment: Members of the employment team within chambers act at all stages of employment disputes by advising, drafting pleadings and providing advocacy before employment tribunals, the EAT and the higher courts. Members also have experience acting in judicial and private mediations.

Public inquiries and disciplinary tribunals: Chambers has a long history of representing interested parties at public inquiries, including the inquiries relating to the Hatfield Rail Disaster, the Ladbroke Grove Rail Disaster and the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. Our barristers also have experience of chairing and appearing before a range of regulatory and professional disciplinary tribunals.

These core areas are complemented by other areas in which members of chambers practise, including: clinical negligence; professional negligence; insurance; product liability; regulatory law; trusts and probate; and commercial law.

Contact Us

The following are invited to contact the clerks by telephone on 020 7583 9241 or by email at chambers@farrarsbuilding.co.uk to discuss suitable Counsel, the availability of Counsel and/or to ask for a quote for our barristers’ services: solicitors or other practising lawyers; Licensed Access clients, who may either hold a licence issued by the Bar Standards Board or be a member of a professional body which has been recognised by the Bar Standards Board; and members of the public who wish to instruct a barrister under the Public Access scheme.

We will provide you with a quote as soon as possible. We always aim to set out quotes clearly, but if you receive your quote and there is something you do not understand, please contact us.

Fees

Barristers in chambers act in privately funded and legally aided cases, as well as trade union backed work.

Our barristers most often charge hourly rates for privately funded work. The setting of hourly rates is not necessarily straightforward and a number of factors may determine the rate that is set, for example the seniority of barrister, the type of client, and the type, complexity and financial value of the case.

Fees for trials are usually calculated on the basis of a brief fee and refresher. A brief fee is a fixed fee which covers preparation for the trial and the first day of the trial. A refresher is a fixed fee for each subsequent day of the trial.

Our barristers also accept instructions under conditional fee agreements (“no win, no fee” agreements) in certain circumstances. For more information, please contact the clerks by telephone on 020 7583 9241 or by email at chambers@farrarsbuilding.co.uk.

Timescales

Timescales for a case may vary depending on factors such as barristers’ availability, the type and complexity of the case, the need for additional documents, the other side’s approach, and court waiting times.

Public Access

If you are a member of the public, the Bar Standards Board’s Public Access Guidance for Lay Clients is found here. This will help you to understand how the Public Access scheme works, and explains how you can use it to instruct a barrister directly.

Regulatory and Complaints Information

Barristers in chambers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board.

You can search the Barristers’ Register on the Bar Standards Board’s website: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/for-the-public/search-a-barristers-record.html. This shows (1) whether a barrister has a current practising certificate, and (2) whether a barrister has any disciplinary findings, which are published on the Bar Standard Board’s website in accordance with their policy. Alternatively, you can contact the Bar Standards Board on 020 7611 1444 to ask about this (or e-mail ContactUs@BarStandardsBoard.org.uk).

The following page on our website provides information about: our complaints procedure; any right you might have to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) – the independent body which can help you if you have complained to your lawyer and are not happy with their response; how to complain to LeO; and any time limits for making a complaint: https://www.farrarsbuilding.co.uk/complaints-procedure/

You can also search the decision data on LeO’s website:

http://legalombudsman.org.uk/raising-standards/data-and-decisions/#ombudsman-decision-data

This shows which providers of legal services received an ombudsman’s decision in the previous 12 months, and whether LeO required the provider to give the consumer a remedy. Alternatively, you can contact LeO on 0300 555 0333 to ask about this (or by e-mail at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk)