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Compliance

Overview Complaints Procedure Policy Transparency – Guidance for Clients Instructing our Members GDPR Privacy Notices

Please find more information on these pages about instructing our barristers and our terms of business, our complaints procedure and our compliance with GDPR regulations.

Keating Chambers is committed to maintaining excellent standards and complying with all guidance provided by the Bar Standards Board, Bar Council and any other regulatory body.

We have been certified with Cyber Essentials Plus. We have put measures in place to protect not only our own organisation, but also the security of our clients, by meeting a UK Government endorsed standard. Click the links below to read more about the Government backed scheme:

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessentials/overview

Clients can request a copy of Keating Chambers’ completed Bar Council cyber questionnaire from cyber@keatingchambers.com

Complaints Procedure

Our aim is to give you the best possible service at all times. Keating Chambers prides itself on the fact that complaints about the service provided by its barristers are very rare but we are always looking to improve our services and we welcome feedback from both solicitors and lay clients. Complaints are taken very seriously and will be dealt with in accordance with Chambers Complaints Procedure, which is set out below.

Clients are in the first instance encouraged to discuss any day-to-day concerns about the services of our barristers directly with them or the clerks. If they feel that the concern or matter raised has not been dealt with to their satisfaction, they may make a formal complaint.

Complaints made by Telephone

Clients are directed to make complaints to the Director of Clerking or, if about the Director of Clerking, to the Chief Operating Officer.

If contacted with a complaint:

Make a note of the details of the complaint and what the client would like done about it.
Discuss the client’s concerns with the aim to resolve them.
If the matter is resolved, record the outcome.
Check that the client is satisfied with the outcome and record that they are satisfied.
If the complaint is not resolved, you should invite the client to write to us about it within the next 14 days so it can be investigated formally.

Complaints made in Writing

Clients are asked to give the following details in their complaints: name and address, which member(s) of chambers or staff they are complaining about; the detail of the complaint; and what they would like done about it.

Chambers has a panel headed by the Head of Chambers and made up of Kings Counsel, experienced members of chambers, and the Chief Operating Officer, which considers any written complaint. Within 14 days of a written complaint being received, the head of the panel or her/his deputy in her/his absence will appoint a member of the panel to investigate it. If the complaint is against the Head of Chambers, it will be investigated by a Deputy Head of Chambers. In any case, the person appointed will be someone other than the person complained about.

The person appointed to investigate will write to the complainant as soon as possible to let them know s/he has been appointed. They should supply the complainant with:

a copy of the complaints procedure,
confirm that s/he will reply to your complaint within 14 days. If s/he finds later that s/he is not going to be able to reply within 14 days s/he will set a new date for her/his reply and inform you.
Her/his reply must set out:

The nature and scope of the investigation;
Her/his conclusion on each complaint and the basis for her/his conclusion; and
If s/he finds that the complaint is justified, her/his proposals for resolving the complaint.
The complainants right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (where applicable).

Confidentiality and record keeping

All communications and documents relating to the complaint must be treated as confidential and should be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary for the investigation and resolution of the complaint; internal review in order to improve Chambers’ handling of complaints; and complying with requests from the Bar Standards Board in the exercise of its monitoring and auditing functions.

A record must be kept of each complaint, of all the steps taken in response to it, and of the outcome of the complaint. Copies of all correspondence, including electronic mail, and all other documents generated in response to the complaint must also be kept. The records and copies should be kept for 6 years from resolution of the complaint.

Records should be stored on the Chambers HR drive/Complaints and the Chief Operating Officer/COO’s EA is responsible for records management.

Reporting

The Chief Operating Officer must report at least annually to the Executive Committee or any other appropriate committee of chambers on:

the number of complaints received,
the subject area of the complaints and
on the outcomes.

The complaints should be reviewed for trends and possible training issues.

The disclosure to the Bar Standards Board of internal documents relating to the handling of the complaint (such as the minutes of any meeting held to discuss a particular complaint) for the further resolution or investigation of the complaint is not required.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman (complaints body for the legal sector)

We hope that you will use our procedure and that will resolve the matter. However, if you are unhappy with the outcome, you may have the choice of taking up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. A right to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman is available to all clients save for most businesses (unless they are defined as micro-enterprises), charities or clubs with an annual income of more than £1m and trustees of trusts with an asset value of more than £1m.

Normally you must bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint from Chambers (provided the response specifically notifies you of your right to complain to the Ombudsman and of the six month time limit). A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman is additionally subject to general time limitation requirements, that is it must be made no later than one year from the act/omission, or one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there were grounds for complaint.

You can make a complaint using the online complaints form found at www.legalombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

Alternatively, you can write to:

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ

Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

If you are calling from overseas, please call +44 121 245 3050

Further details may be found at: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Transparency – Guidance for clients

Our practice management teams are your first point of contact when instructing our barristers. Friendly and approachable, all the clerks have in-depth knowledge of our barristers and their specialisms, our areas of practice, and the court and arbitration process. Whether you require a single barrister or an entire team for a particular project, they will help you make the right choice. They will also arrange appointments for you, negotiate fees, and answer any queries you may have as your case progresses.

Members of Keating Chambers are all self-employed and independent practitioners. This allows two or more of our barristers to be involved in the same court case, arbitration, mediation or adjudication, on opposite sides – a common occurrence in specialist engineering and construction cases. It also occasionally happens that the appointed arbitrator practises from the same chambers as one or more of the advocates. Members of Keating Chambers and our clerking team are well-versed to handle this situation and stringent provisions are put in place in such cases to ensure that confidentiality is protected at all times.

Our members are all regulated directly by the Bar Standards Board (BSB).  The Barristers’ Register, which may be found here on the BSB’s website, is an online database which displays details of all barristers who are authorised to practice in England and Wales and who hold a current practising certificate.  The Register displays the dates for which a barrister’s practising certificate is valid.

The rules governing access to the services provided by barristers has changed in recent years, which means that members of Keating Chambers can accept instructions from clients in a number of different ways.

We would like to invite the following individuals to contact us if you are interested in instructing a barrister:

Professionals – Solicitors or other practicing lawyers;
Licensed access – Authorised licensed access clients are those persons and organisations and/or their members and/or their or their members’ employees (as the case may be) who have from time to time been approved as such by the Bar Standards Board. See Bar Standards document on licensed access regulations.
Public access – Members of the public who need legal services within one of our specialised areas and wish to instruct a barrister under the Public Access scheme. Further details are available in on the Bar Standards Board’s website.

Once we have had an initial discussion, received all documentation and assessed whether this is something we can assist you with, we will be able to provide you with an estimate (if requested to do so). This will be based on the work we currently think is involved looking at the documentation provided but is subject to change.

Fees

The barristers’ fees will be calculated as agreed between Keating Chambers and the individual in a variety of ways depending on the case. When assessing the appropriate level of fees, we take into consideration the importance of the case, the complexity, the volume of documentation, the skill and specialised knowledge of the barrister and the responsibility involved. Our most common pricing models are hourly rates, fixed fee or brief fee and refreshers. Brief fees are to be agreed in advance of work commencing in relation to a hearing or other similar period of commitment and a refresher is a fixed fee for each subsequent day of the hearing. Fees will include VAT where applicable.

Timescales

If requested to do so, the barrister shall provide the individual with an estimated timeline of when the barrister can deal with the work. There are many factors which will need to be considered when estimating when the barrister can carry out certain legal services. Please see factors below:

The availability of the barrister.
The availability of the client.
Complexity of the case.
Volume of papers.
The need for additional information or documents.
The approach taken by the other side.
Third party intervention.
Court waiting times.

Accessibility

If you would prefer to receive the information from our website in an alternative format, please click here to contact a member of the Practice Management Team.

Equality & Diversity

Keating Chambers is committed to the furtherance of equality and diversity at the Bar.

The Bar Standards Board Code of Conduct states that a summary of the Diversity Data submitted by Keating Chambers’ members, pupil barristers, and employees must be published on our website once every three years.

Chambers’ Diversity Data was last updated in September 2020 and a summary of the data can be accessed here.

For further information on our diversity and inclusion initiatives and our equal opportunities policy, visit https://www.keatingchambers.com/recruitment/diversity-and-inclusion/

Instructing our Members

Our practice management teams are your first point of contact when instructing our barristers. Friendly and approachable, all the clerks have in-depth knowledge of our barristers and their specialisms, our areas of practice, and the court and arbitration process.

Our Members

Whether you require a single barrister or an entire team for a particular project, they will help you make the right choice. They will also arrange appointments for you, negotiate fees, and answer any queries you may have as your case progresses.

It also occasionally happens that the appointed arbitrator practises from the same chambers as one or more of the advocates. Members of Keating Chambers and our clerking team are well-versed to handle this situation and stringent provisions are put in place in such cases to ensure that confidentiality is protected at all times.

The rules governing access to the services provided by barristers has changed dramatically in recent years which means that members of Keating Chambers can accept instructions from clients in a number of different ways. Please contact our clerking team if you would like to discuss the ways in which Keating Chambers’ members may be able to assist you or your organisation.

Terms of Business

The Code of Conduct has been amended so that, with effect from 31 January 2013, barristers are obliged under the Cab Rank Rule to accept instructions which are offered either: (a) on the Standard Conditions of Contract for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons 2020 (the “Bar Council Terms”); or (b) on terms which have been published as the barristers’ standard terms.

The Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR) and the City of London Law Society (CLLS) have negotiated and agreed a set of specimen terms and conditions which may be used as an alternative to the Bar Council Terms (“the COMBAR/CLLS Terms”).

Keating Chambers has given careful consideration to the implementation of new contractual terms and has decided that, from 1 February 2013, new instructions to members of Keating Chambers will be accepted either:

In accordance with the Bar Council Terms; or
In accordance with Basis A of the COMBAR/CLLS Terms.

In specific and appropriate circumstances, which take into account the particular client and the nature of the case, barristers at Keating Chambers may also be prepared to consider engagement in accordance with the other bases contained in the COMBAR/CLLS Terms.

When instructions are accepted under the Bar Council Terms an email will be sent to instructing solicitors confirming this. If the terms of engagement are the COMBAR/CLLS Terms then an email will be sent to Instructing solicitors confirming that the barrister and the solicitor intend to be bound by a contract incorporating the Terms and setting out the information required by the front sheet of the Terms, together with any amendments agreed.

The Bar Council Terms can be downloaded here and the COMBAR/CLLS Terms can be downloaded here .

If you have an enquiry in relation to the terms of which members of Keating Chambers will accept instruction, please contact the clerks on +44 20 7544 2600 or clerks@keatingchambers.com.