The Chancery Bar

In a nutshell

The Chancery Bar is tricky to define. The High Court has three divisions: Family, Queen’s Bench (QBD) and Chancery. Chancery cases are typically those with an emphasis on legal principles, foremost among them the concept of equity (fairness). Cases are generally categorised as either ‘traditional’ Chancery (trusts, probate, real estate, charities and mortgages) or ‘commercial’ Chancery (company law, shareholder cases, partnership, banking, pensions, financial services, insolvency, professional negligence, tax, media and IP). Most Chancery sets undertake both types of work, albeit with varying emphases. Some areas, such as tax and IP, require specialisation.

In practice, there's crossover between Chancery practice and the work of the Commercial Bar (historically dealt with in the QBD). To reflect this in July 2017 the Chancery Division was combined with the QBD's Commercial Court and the Technology and Construction Court to form the 'Business and Property Courts'. Sounds confusing, but thankfully the Chancery Bar is a natural habitat for megabrains.

Chancery

Realities of the job

  • This is an area of law for those who love to grapple with its most complex aspects. It’s all about the application of long-standing legal principles to modern-day situations.
  • Barristers must be very practical in the solutions they offer to clients. Complex and puzzling cases take significant unravelling and the legal arguments/principles must be explained coherently to the solicitor and the lay client. Suave and sophisticated presentation before a judge is also vital.
  • Advocacy is important, but the majority of time is spent in chambers perusing papers, considering arguments, drafting pleadings, skeletons and advices, or conducting settlement negotiations.
  • Some instructions fly into chambers, need immediate attention and then disappear just as quickly. Others can rumble on for years.
  • Variety abounds. Traditional work can involve human interest: wills and inheritance can cause serious family rifts. Commercial Chancery practitioners deal with boardroom disputes or bust-ups between co-writers of million-selling songs or disputes about literary estates.
  • Schedules aren’t set by last-minute briefs for next-day court appearances, so barristers need self-discipline and good time management skills.
  • The early years of practice feature low-value cases like straightforward possession proceedings in the County Court, winding-up applications in the Companies Court and appearances before the bankruptcy registrars. More prominent sets will involve baby barristers as second or third junior on larger, more complex cases.

Current issues

October 2023 

  • The Black Inclusion Group, set up by three specialist Bar associations including the Chancery Bar Association, was set up in November 2020 to investigate and produce an advisory report on increasing ethnic minority representation at the commercial and chancery Bar. Its report, titled The Specialist Commercial Bar & Black Inclusion, was published in April 2022, with the aim of encouraging talent to ‘progress through the profession, without fear of harassment or discrimination.’ 

  • The Chancery Bar attracts high-value, complex domestic cases, offshore and cross-border instructions. Plenty of cases focus on massive offshore trusts in tax havens like the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the Channel Islands. 

  • The Ministry of Justice in January 2022 announced that the remote witnessing of wills will be permitted for another two years. This means that anyone isolating or vulnerable can have their will witnessed via video call until 2024. 

  • According to statistics gathered by The Law Society, 85% of cases heard in business courts in England and Wales still went ahead (remotely) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps indicating an increase in efficiency, 50% of Chancery cases lasted less than an hour, and 70% lasted under two hours. 

Some tips

  • Most pupils at leading Chancery sets have a First and have won tons of academic prizes. You should enjoy the analytical process involved in constructing arguments and evaluating the answers to problems. If you’re not a natural essay writer, you’re unlikely to be a natural-born Chancery practitioner.
  • Don’t wander into this area by accident. Are you actually interested in equity, trusts, company law, insolvency, IP or tax?