London councils cut number of chambers on £25m barristers panels by a third

The London Boroughs’ Legal Alliance has cut the number of chambers for its revised barristers panel from 29 to 19.

The panel was split into seven lots: Lot 1: Adult Social Services; Lot 2: Children's services; Lot 3: Governance & Public Law; Lot 4: Criminal Litigation & Prosecutions; Lot 5: Housing; Lot 6: Planning & Property; Lot 7: Civil Litigation.

The chambers appointed to the framework agreement – worth an estimated £20-25m over four years – were:

  1. 4 Brick Court (appointed to lot 2);
  2. 5 St Andrew’s Hill (4);
  3. 6 Pump Court (4, 6);
  4. 9 Gough Square (2);
  5. 9-12 Bell Yard (4);
  6. 11KBW (3);
  7. 36 Bedford Row (2, 3, 4, 6, 7);
  8. 42 Bedford Row (2, 5, 6);
  9. Coram Chambers (2);
  10. Cornerstone Barristers (1, 3, 5, 6, 7);
  11. Doughty Street Chambers (1);
  12. Field Court Chambers (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7);
  13. Five Paper (5);
  14. Francis Taylor Building (6);
  15. Lamb Chambers (5);
  16. New Court Chambers (2);
  17. Old Square Chambers (7);
  18. Outer Temple Chambers (1);
  19. Serjeants Inn Chambers (1, 3, 7).

The LBLA comprises the London Boroughs of Brent, Camden, City of London, Ealing, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea and Waltham Forest.

Other local authorities within Greater London and South-East England will be able to access the framework agreement in due course

The framework agreement is due to run for three years from 1 January 2016, with an option to extend the term for a further year.

Waltham Forest was the contracting authority for the procurement exercise and consultancy Kennedy Cater ran the tender.

Helen Edwards, Head of Public Sector team at Kennedy Cater, said: “'The London Boroughs’ Legal Alliance has always been ahead of the game in its approach to tendering for, and appointing barristers’chambers to its panel. With a combined annual spend of over £5m, appointment to the LBLA panel is a worthy prize and Kennedy Cater is proud to manage this process.

“This new panel offers a great breadth of expertise at highly competitive rates which will see Londoners getting the best value for their money for at least the next 3 years."