St Philips Chambers, whose headquarters are in Birmingham, have appointed Richard Atkins QC to the role, taking over the post formerly held by Andrew Smith QC.
Chair of the Bar of England and Wales in 2019 and Leader of the Midland Circuit for three years from 2014 to 2017, Richard Atkins has established himself as one of the best known faces in the profession in the past decade, and is one of the country’s leading criminal QCs.
He is well-known to many senior government ministers and officials as well as the country’s most senior judges. To add to this, he has had considerable involvement with both the Legal Services Board and the Bar Standards Board dealing with the ongoing changes in regulation of the profession.
Richard said: ‘I am delighted to take on the role of Head of St Philips Chambers and would like to publicly thank Andrew Smith QC for the tremendous work he did whilst in office. These are interesting and challenging times for the legal sector. I will do my utmost to ensure that St Philips continues to be at the forefront of the legal profession and I look forward to working with our highly talented team of Barristers and staff to meet the challenges ahead.’
