Two Chester chambers celebrate successful year with festive cocktail party

BARRISTERS from 1 Stanley Place and Nicholas Street Chambers in Chester held a joint seasonal cocktail party at Chester Town Hall.

Solicitors from throughout Cheshire, North Wales and Shropshire were invited and more than 150 guests enjoyed music, champagne and canapés in the grandeur of the Town Hall’s assembly room.

Speaking on behalf of 1 Stanley Place and Nicholas Street Chambers, Anthony O’Tool thanked solicitors for attending the party and for their support over the past year.

He said the legal world was facing unprecedented changes and challenges, with extensive Government cuts to legal funding but that both 1 Stanley Place and Nicholas Street Chambers were determined to continue to provide solicitors and clients with a first class service and to maintain the excellence in standards which has enabled both sets of chambers to go from strength to strength over the past half century.

1 Stanley Place Chambers has this year been celebrating 60 years since its founding member Lord Hooson QC – who, among many other high profile cases in his career, acted for the infamous ‘Moors Murderer’ Ian Brady – set up the Chambers in 1950, then located at 39 Whitefriars, Chester.

In 1972 chambers moved to Sedan House in Stanley Place in 2006, having more than doubled in membership, and consequently outgrown Sedan House, chambers relocated to their current Grade II listed building at 1 Stanley Place.

Following a £1m refurbishment project, 1 Stanley Place now offers the most up-to-date facilities and services, enabling barristers to provide their clients with the very best representation possible.

The anniversary year has also been marked by the appointment of one of its members to the high court; Mr Justice Robin Spencer Kt, a member of 1 Stanley Place for over 30 years, was appointed earlier this year to serve in the Queen’s Bench Division of the high court of justice in London.

Nicholas Street Chambers (formerly of King Street Chambers), also has a long and successful history of providing barrister’s services in Chester.

Having outgrown their accommodation in King Street, the current chambers was opened in 1998 by the former Recorder of Chester, Sir Robin David QC, himself a former member of chambers.

Both Nicholas Street and 1 Stanley Place Chambers have a considerable history of producing successful Queens’s counsel and many eminent judges, including the current recorder of Chester, His Honour Judge Elgan Edwards DL, who formerly worked as a barrister at 1 Stanley Place Chambers.