Headquarters London Founded 1880 | Founder Charles Hall | |
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Website cornerstonebarristers.com | ||
Cornerstone Barristers is a set of barristers who specialise in social housing law, planning, common and commercial law.
Contents
History
Cornerstone Barristers was formed in 1880 by Sir Charles Hall as 2-3 Gray's Inn Square. Sir Graham Eyre QC was the Head of Chambers, before being succeeded by Anthony Scrivener QC in 1992.
In 1999, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided to cull its panel of prosecuting chambers, resulting in more than 30 barristers moving out of 11 sets. 2-3 Gray's Inn Square lost practice manager Paul Simpson and senior clerk Bill Harris. Gray's Inn Square said they had been asked to be taken off the list prior to the cutbacks.
In the early 2000s, Gray's Inn Square grew steadily. From 2001 - 2006 Anthony Porten QC led the firm as its head of chambers. During this time the organization grew its expertise in housing and licensing. Revenues grew from £9.7m to £10.6m from 2004 - 2006 alone. The following year the chambers lost three members, but revenue per barrister and overall revenue continued to grow. In 2006, planning specialist Mark Lowe QC was elected as its new head of chambers in a move to help the firm modernize and grow. Lowe's goals were to streamline the civil set and attract more members.
In December, 2011 2-3 Gray's Inn Square was renamed to Cornerstone Barristers.
Notable cases
In 2005, the co-head of chambers Anthony Scivener QC appeared before the house of lords on behalf of air passengers claiming airlines had caused deep vein thrombosis.
Reputation
Cornerstone Barristers is highly regarded, in particular in the social housing sector and for the strength of its juniors. Legal Week recognized many of Cornerstone's juniors among a list of rising stars in 2005. Many of Corerstone's lawyer's are among the top-rated silks as well. It was first recognized by the Lawyer's Bar Top 30 in 2004, when it had only £9.7m in revenue. The chambers enjoys a strong reputation in common and commercial law, as well as the social housing sector. members of chambers are best known for their work with local authorities, though they represent both providers and consumers.