History & ethos

Established for well over 60 years, Chambers' origins are firmly rooted in commercial law. Our standing has grown over the years as Chambers has become instrumental in the development of human rights and public law. We have maintained our leading position in public international law, while developing our thriving practices in employment and EU and competition law. The nature of our practice has evolved and become increasingly multi-jurisdictional, designed to meet the needs of the legal market in the 21st century.

Our quality is recognised and endorsed. Blackstone Chambers and its individual members are identified in the legal directories (Chambers and Partners, the Legal 500 and others) as being leaders or highly regarded in our main areas of practice. 

"Blackstone Chambers is an outstanding civil set fielding a multitude of talented silks and juniors. “You can’t go wrong if you choose Blackstone,” the “standout set” for public and administrative law cases, enthuse sources. As a well-established commercial set, the group is regularly instructed in some of the country’s highest profile litigation. […] The extensive expertise of Blackstone’s barristers is matched by the set’s clerking and administrative teams, who are “forward-looking and modern in the way that they clerk.” One source attests to the reputation and standing of the set: “By virtue of the chambers being Blackstone, you automatically have confidence in the barrister.”" - Chambers UK 2016

Advocacy development

Blackstone Chambers' reputation is founded upon the quality of our specialist advocacy and advice.  We focus on developing our homegrown talent and we have seen the benefits of a rigorous selection procedure for junior tenants, which has ensured the recruitment of talented, multi-disciplined individuals well able to provide the strength and depth of legal expertise required in today's legal market.

We place great emphasis on junior tenants acquiring as much advocacy experience as possible in their initial years of practice. We reinforce this with a heavy investment in advocacy training in-house, and provide for a planned structure for the career development of each new tenant. 

As well as transferring skills internally, we also provide a programme of specialist seminars for our clients. More information is available on request. 

Equality & diversity information

Blackstone Chambers is fully committed to the principle of equality of opportunity without discrimination on grounds of colour, race, disability, age, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation or political persuasion. Please see our Equality & Diversity Statement. 

Our commitment to Equality and Diversity is demonstrated by the efforts of Chambers, individual members and staff. For example, the Human Dignity Trust was founded by Tim Otty KC in 2011 and we actively support and participate in the work of Bridging the Bar, COMBAR’s mentoring scheme for under-represented groups, 10,000 Black Interns and the Guy Fox History Project.

Since December 2019, Blackstone Chambers has commissioned the use of the Rare Contextual Recruitment System (CRS) for our mini-pupillage and pupillage recruitment processes. Rare is a multi-award-winning diversity company using big data to map the social, financial and educational background of candidates and make sure that brilliant candidates are identified and given the chance to flourish. According to Rare, 61% more disadvantaged candidates were hired when organisations adopted the CRS. This also enables Blackstone Chambers to pursue legitimate interests of fair recruitment (Article 6(1)(e) GDPR).

Blackstone Chambers has carried out a survey in accordance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook Rule rC 110.3  The Rules require Chambers to publish a summary of its diversity data monitoring exercise, carried out every three years. 

Questionnaires were sent to all barristers, pupils and staff in October 2021 and the results were published in January 2022.  Response is entirely voluntary.  Approximately 90% of those receiving the questionnaires participated in the return.  The data summarised is based on responses received and may not reflect the position what could have applied if all those eligible to participate had chosen to do so.

Total response numbers may vary between categories where individuals have chosen to respond “prefer not to say” in relation to certain questions.  

For more information, please see the attached document above.

Anti-Racism Statement

Blackstone Chambers is committed to being an anti-racist organisation. We not only commit to refrain from race discrimination; we also commit to recognise, confront, and take other positive steps to address the existing and systemic effects of racism.

We believe that:

• To provide the best services to our clients, it is necessary to recruit from as diverse a pool of talented individuals as possible. Our recruitment processes are designed to encourage applications from all such individuals and to select the best among them. We were amongst the first at the Bar to use the RARE Contextual Recruitment method for placing the academic achievements of our applicants in their socio-economic context. We continue to use this tool and invite all our applicants for pupillage to consent to their data being processed in this way. We have reviewed our pupillage recruitment process in line with the Bar Council Fair Recruitment Guide June 2021 and implemented changes effective for the 2021/2022 recruitment round. Those involved in our pupillage interviews are required to undertake training in avoiding unconscious biases. Recruitment Policy
• All members of Blackstone Chambers, pupils, staff, and our clients are entitled to a work environment that is anti-racist. That is an environment in which diversity is valued; in which individuals from all backgrounds can work without racism; and in which effective processes are in place to identify and address issues when they arise. We have decided to monitor Equality and Diversity within Chambers on an annual basis and to publish that data. A new survey is underway and will be available for publication in early Spring 2022. Equality and Diversity Information
• The legal profession has a key role in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion. We acknowledge that role not just in our approach to recruitment and our working environment, but also in our wider engagements with society We are proud of our role in being founding supporters of, and active participators in, initiatives such as “Bridging the Bar” and the Mentoring for Underrepresented Groups scheme run by commercial barristers’ chambers. We are a supporter to the Black Talent Charter.

In line with our commitment and beliefs, we will continue to promote equality, diversity, and inclusion within Blackstone Chambers and the legal profession. We will continue to review how we work and to identify and pursue initiatives that further the objectives of this statement.

We commit to:

1. Implementing and regularly reviewing an anti-racist action plan which builds on the BSB’s Anti-Racist Statement and the Bar Council’s Framework for Taking Action on Equality
2. Implementing comprehensive anti-racism training for all members of Blackstone Chambers, pupils, and staff.
3. Gathering data and evidence relevant to the objectives of this statement, including by carrying out a diversity and inclusion audit in accordance with the BSB Guidelines. We will collect, review and publish diversity data annually. We will regularly review diversity data collected during our pupillage recruitment process.
4. Designing and implementing appropriate positive action measures, in particular to address underrepresentation in Blackstone Chambers of individuals from minority ethnic communities, or the adverse impacts on such individuals of the Bar’s existing systems and culture.
5. Reviewing the results of our 2021/2022 Diversity Data collection, 2022 Diversity and Inclusion Audit, and recent pupillage recruitment data. We will thereafter consult on, identify and publish appropriate targets for improving diversity. Following that consultation we will establish aims and objectives for members and staff 

Our Chambers Committee and Equality and Diversity Officers will take responsibility for these initiatives and review progress with them.

Bar Council Race at the Bar Report

Blackstone Chambers targets for 2023 are attached here.

Following the Race at the Bar report published by the Bar Council in November 2021, with its focus on the particular inequalities faced by Black barristers and students, our targets include some (targets 5 and 6 below) which focus specifically on applications from students of Black and Mixed Black ethnicity. This focus is intended to ensure our analysis is targeted and effective.