About Us

Keating Chambers is a leading set of commercial barristers’ chambers based in London, United Kingdom, with a thriving domestic and international practice. With a core specialism in construction law, our members act in the very highest value and most significant project disputes in the world.

With 74 barristers, including 34 silks, we have in depth expertise across a range of seniorities to support our clients’ needs and ensuring that assistance is available for disputes of every type and size. Our members are widely recognised for their first-class advocacy expertise and incisive cross examination skills. As counsel, their understanding of how judges and tribunals think can prove critical in achieving success in trials and arbitrations. Chambers’ excellent reputation for advocacy is matched equally by our reputation for drafting and advisory services, at all levels.

Keating Chambers' work in the UK includes disputes of various sizes related to construction, infrastructure, and energy projects including related PFI and professional negligence matters. In addition, amongst our members there is a strong cohort of procurement lawyers, as well as renowned planning expertise. Large scale construction and infrastructure projects, power plants and shipbuilding disputes are key areas of our international work.

Barristers at Keating Chambers regularly appear in litigation in the Technology & Construction Court, the Commercial Court, the Court of Appeal, the Privy Council and the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court, as well as in domestic arbitration, international arbitration (conducted under all major arbitral institutions), adjudication and mediation. With a number of our members having a dual qualification in engineering, including civil, electrical and chemical, we are well-equipped to handle disputes involving complex technical issues.

We have well established links overseas, including international members permanently based in either Australia, Hong Kong or India. Members of chambers' international experience brings with it a familiarity of both procedural and substantive law in numerous jurisdictions, together with a keen ability to work closely with lawyers and clients with diverse backgrounds. Our members are well positioned to provide commercial and practical advice, together with a first rate flexible and client-focused service, worldwide. A number of members of chambers have working knowledge of various languages including Arabic, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Norwegian, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, and Yoruba.

In addition to work as counsel, individuals at Keating Chambers are frequently appointed as arbitrators, adjudicators, experts (in the context of expert determination), and mediators. Several senior barristers also sit in the UK Courts as Deputy High Court Judges in the Technology and Construction Court and Recorders in Crown and County Courts.

Members are authors of the seminal practitioner textbook in the field, Keating on Construction Contracts (now in its 11th Edition), and other staple industry texts include ‘Keating on NEC’, ‘Keating on Offshore Construction and Marine Engineering Contracts’ and the ‘Keating Construction Dispute Resolution Handbook’.

Awards & Recognition

Keating Chambers, our members, and our staff regularly receive external endorsement of our expertise via client recommendations in the leading directories and recognition in legal industry awards. Cases involving members of Chambers regularly feature in The Lawyer’s annual report of “Top 20 Cases”, demonstrating the significance of our UK court work. The breadth of these cases span construction, PFI, professional negligence and procurement. Barristers also often feature in The Lawyer’s annual “Hot 100” lists.

“Keating is a power house of excellence”

Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

Set

Keating Chambers has been awarded a plethora of ‘Set of the Year’ awards in recent years. These awards recognise our diversity and inclusion initiatives, culture, financial growth and dominance in the market. Recent success includes: Legal Cheek ‘Chambers of the Year’ 2024; The Lawyer’s ‘Chambers of the Year’ 2020; and Lexis Nexis ‘Set of the Year’ 2020.

Both The Legal 500 and Chambers UK directories rank Keating as a top-tier set across several practice areas including construction, energy and international arbitration. We are also frequently shortlisted for ‘Construction Set of the Year’ at the Chambers UK Bar Awards, winning 10 times in the last 15 years, most recently in November 2024. We have also been awarded ‘Construction & Energy Set of the Year’ by The Legal 500 and ‘International Arbitration Set of the Year’ by Chambers & Partners.

Barristers

Members of Chambers are recommended in the leading directories for construction, energy, international arbitration, mediation, planning, professional negligence, public procurement and shipping. Their expertise is also regularly recognised in industry awards and nominations. Recent examples include:

Legal 500 Construction Junior of the Year award for Emma Healiss (2024).
Chambers & Partners Construction Silk of the Year award for Jonathan Selby KC (2023).
Chambers & Partners Construction Junior of the Year award for Tom Owen (2023).
Legal 500 Construction & Energy Silk of the Year award (2023) for Alexander Nissen KC.
Recognition in The Lawyer’s annual Hot 100 list for: Tom Owen KC (2023), Sarah Hannaford KC (2022), Fionnuala McCredie KC (2021) and Lucy Garrett KC (2021).

Cases

In recent years several cases involving barristers at Keating Chambers barristers have been featured in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases annual report:

2024: Shepherd Construction v Kingspan and others - The dispute, worth in the region of £70m, will be one of the first to consider the new cause of action against cladding manufacturers under s149 of the Building Safety Act. and will have a large effect on the legal principles surrounding fire safety issues.
2022: Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust & Ors v Lendlease Construction (Europe) Ltd & Ors - Long-running dispute, involving 15 separate parties, arises out of a multi-million-pound PFI project to build a new specialist emergency care hospital. 
2022: Atos IT Services v The Met Office - a procurement challenge launched against The Met Office, the UK Government-backed weather agency, concerning the prestigious contract for a weather and climate change supercomputer which was awarded to Microsoft.
2021: WM Morrisons Supermarkets PLC v Lorien Engineering Solutions Ltd – Case concerning alleged defects in the abattoir chilling processes affected meat quality and profits.
2020: West Coast Trains & Ors v Department for Transport & Ors - The 2019 Rail Franchising Litigation involved four separate claims against the Department for Transport, rolled up into one massive claim, arising out of three separate rail franchise procurement competitions run by the DfT between 2017 and 2019.

Client Service

We regularly seek feedback from our instructing solicitors and clients to ensure we are delivering the high standards we attain to. Client feedback in the leading directories attests to our strength in this area and our clerks and staff are consistently recommended for their efficiency and professionalism. Our clerks come recommended for their excellent communication, and knowing the practice “from top to bottom”. The team endeavours to be flexible and innovative in our pricing and service delivery for our clients and takes a commercial approach to calculating and negotiating fees.

Our marketing team “are fantastic in assisting with training and events” and are regularly shortlisted as “Marketing Team of the Year” at the Legal 500 Bar Awards, most recently in 2024. In the same year our Chief Operating Officer, Alison Crosland, was shortlisted as “Chambers Leader of the Year”. Alison is part of the wider business development team which monitors client feedback and looks at how we can continue to improve on our service. She also sits on the Executive Committee of the LPMA.

Diversity & Inclusion

Keating Chambers is committed to (1) promoting and advancing equality and diversity in all its dealings, in particular in the provision of its services to its clients, the recruitment and retention of all members, pupils and staff and fair access to work; and (2) providing a work environment in which all individuals, clients and the public are treated with dignity and respect. At the 2024 Chambers & Partners Awards, Keating Chambers were nominated for the Outstanding Set for Diversity & Inclusion award.

Corporate Social Responsibility

As a modern-thinking set, Keating Chambers strives to achieve ethical, sustainable ways of working that support our clients, barristers and staff. Keating Chambers’ social responsibility includes our pro bono work, wellbeing initiatives, environmental work and charitable support as well as initiatives to help make the Bar a more inclusive environment.

History of Chambers

Named after one of its former Heads of Chambers, Donald Keating QC, Keating Chambers has been providing high quality advice and advocacy in construction law for over 70 years.

Chambers has produced a number of eminent judges in that time: Lord Dyson (former Master of the Rolls), Sir Anthony May (former president of the Queen’s Bench Division), Sir Patrick Garland (former judge of the QBD),  Lord Justice Coulson (judge of the Court of Appeal), Sir Vivian Ramsey (former judge in charge of the TCC), Dame Nerys Jefford (TCC judge and presiding judge of the Wales Circuit), Dame Finola O’Farrell (former judge in charge of the TCC) and Sir Adam Constable. The combination of traditional legal excellence, extensive construction experience, and innovative, commercially-focused thinking makes us a natural choice for solicitors and clients looking to instruct genuine specialists.

Donald Keating was Head of Chambers from 1975 to 1992. During this time Chambers expanded substantially and became progressively more specialised in building, engineering and other technical work, as well as moving to new and spacious commercial premises in Essex Street. Donald Keating died on 1st August 1995 at the age of 71 while still very much in harness. As well as adopting his name, Chambers organises an occasional series of commemorative lectures, which have been delivered by Sir Michael Kerr, Lord Phillips, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Dyson and Lord Justice Coulson.

Donald was the original author of Keating on Construction Contracts (named “Law and Practice of Building Contracts” in its original form in 1955). The editorial responsibility for the book has been handed over to different members of Chambers over the last 70 years. Now in its 11^th edition, it is co-edited by Simon Hughes KC, Piers Stansfield KC and Sir Vivian Ramsey, and is a collective Chambers publication involving contributions from circa 40 members of Keating Chambers.

Honorary Associates

The Jane Lemon Foundation is a charitable trust set up in memory of Jane Lemon QC who was a much loved and enormously successful member of Keating Chambers from 1994 to 2019. Jane died suddenly and tragically in April 2019.

The Jane Lemon Foundation seeks to further those causes which were close to Jane’s heart, including legal education, support for young people and research into allergies.

Jane’s husband Mark Hepburn, Sir Vivian Ramsey, Nick Child and David Thomas KC are the trustees. They apply the Charity’s funds to support the above causes.

We have had a wonderful level of support in memory of Jane. If you would like to donate you can choose to give either through the Foundation’s JustGiving page or directly to our Bank Account the details of which are:

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About Us

Keating Chambers is a leading set of commercial barristers’ chambers based in London, United Kingdom, with a thriving domestic and international practice. With a core specialism in construction law, our members act in the very highest value and most significant project disputes in the world.

Awards & Recognition