About Us

Our ethical principles are really important to us. They are the values that set the ground rules for all that we do.

Honesty – We do not say things that are false and never deliberately mislead. We are as open as possible.

Promise-keeping – We go to great lengths to keep our commitments, and we do not make promises that can’t be kept.

Fairness – We act in just and even-handed ways.

Respect for others – We honour and value the abilities and contributions of others.

Compassion – We are aware of the needs of others and act to meet those needs whenever possible. We also minimise harm whenever possible. We act in ways that are consistent with our commitment to social responsibility.

Integrity – We will live up to these ethical principles, even when confronted by personal, professional and social risks, as well as economic pressures.

We want our workplace to be safe and healthy and we aim to minimise our potential impact on the environment, and we meet all relevant environmental legislation and work hard to follow environmental best practice. Here are some of the things we do:

• • Encourage our entire team to work in an environmentally responsible manner.
  • Minimise waste by ensuring our processes are as efficient as possible.
  • Reduce waste by recycling paper, plastics, cardboard, glass and ink cartridges, and by purchasing recycled or refurbished products and materials where these alternatives are available, economical and suitable.
  • Promote energy efficiency by:
  • Shutting down computers daily
  • Switching off monitors
  • Switching off copiers/printers
  • Switching off fans, heaters, chargers
  • Turning off lights
  • Avoiding unnecessary printing
  • Printing double-sided where possible
  • Communicating by email where possible

We are determined that no discrimination take place at Queen Square Chambers. We believe that no one should be discriminated against because of ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy or maternity, disability or age, and we take great care to ensure that there is equality of opportunity throughout Chambers.

Applications for staff vacancies, pupillages and tenancy are considered on merit, as are promotions. We monitor applications for the ethnicity, gender and disability of those we recruit to ensure we adhere to a diverse recruitment policy, but we do not set or work towards any targets.

In January 2020 our team were asked various diversity questions. 20 barristers and staff of chambers responded. Of those who consented to publication of their anonymised data the results were the following:

Barristers

There were 15 respondents from a total of 42. Not all respondents consented to the publication of their data.

Gender: <10 males; <10 females

Age: <10 members in each of ten-year categories from 16-24 up to 65+, with at least one in each.

Ethnicity: 13 members identified as British; <10 members identified as ‘Any other White background’; <10 members identified as Irish.

Staff

There were 5 respondents from a total of 7 staff, so all category responses were <10.

We were disappointed with the response rate which was low amongst barristers; that, coupled with the fact that we are not the largest set, means that we feel that the equality data produced are not of a high enough standard to provide any real value.  More importantly, we do not believe they provide a true reflection of the diversity within our set.

We will be revisiting the survey in 2023 at the latest, when we will use the best communication we can to try to ensure the best possible response.  We are committed to equality and diversity and we are determined to improve our showcasing of this.

If you’d like to read our policies on maternity/paternity leave, flexible working, harassment, disciplinary and grievance procedure, they are available on request. Please contact our Equality and Diversity Officer, Simon Goodman (Simon.Goodman@qsc.law).

Unless otherwise agreed, the default, standard terms which members of Queen Square Chambers offer services to, or at the request of, solicitors will be the standard contractual terms (2012) that have been prepared by the Bar Council.

Please note that in the absence of any other agreement between you and the barrister these standard terms will govern the relationship between the barrister and the authorised person. A link to the terms is below.

We already have Service Level Agreements with many of our clients and always welcome a discussion with others wishing to consider such arrangements. These might include specific payment terms, agreed rates, quality standards and other services. Please contact us if you would like to investigate this option further.

Terms of Business