Bar Council membership, meetings and minutes

Bar Council members 2026

The Bar Council comprises members who represent the main sections of the profession. The role of Bar Council members is to represent their 'constituency' by collating and relaying their views at Bar Council meetings and/or disseminating relevant non-confidential Bar Council information to them. Read the full Bar Council member role profile.

Chair
Kirsty Brimelow KC

Vice Chair
Heidi Stonecliffe KC

Treasurer
Lucinda Orr

The Chair and Vice Chair of the Bar are ex-officio members of all representative committees and any other committees appointed by the Bar Council except the BSB and its regulatory committees. Their membership does not contribute to the overall number of members. (Paragraph 41a of the standing orders for committees)

The Rt Hon the Lord Richard Hermer KC – Attorney General

The Rt Hon Ellie Reeves MP – Solicitor General

Stephen Parkinson – Director of Public Prosecutions

 

Inns representatives

Melissa Coutino – Lincoln’s Inn

Emma Southern – Lincoln’s Inn

Linda Turnbull – Lincoln’s Inn

Saira Kabir Sheikh KC– Inner Temple

Simon Atkinson – Inner Temple

Minka Braun – Inner Temple

Ruth Kirby KC – Middle Temple

Richard Wright KC – Middle Temple

James Lewis KC – Gray’s Inn

Christina Michalos KC – Gray’s Inn

Amanda Jepson – Gray’s Inn

 

Circuit representatives 

Harpreet Sandhu KC – Leader, Midland Circuit

Barbara Connolly KC – Midland Circuit

Lee Marklew – Midland Circuit

Samantha Hillas KC – Leader, Northern Circuit

Winston Hunter KC – Northern Circuit

Andrew Howe – Northern Circuit

Caroline Goodwin KC – Leader, North Eastern Circuit

Nicholas Johnson KC – North Eastern Circuit

Jasmine Chen – North Eastern Circuit

Claire Davies KC – Leader, South Eastern Circuit

Danielle Buckett – South Eastern Circuit

Harry O'Sullivan – South Eastern Circuit

Christopher Rees KC – Leader, Wales and Chester Circuit

Owen Thomas KC – Wales and Chester Circuit

Cathrine Grubb – Wales and Chester Circuit

Sarah Jones KC – Leader, Western Circuit

Hollie Gilbery – Western Circuit

Kate Lumsdon KC – Western Circuit

 

Association Chairs

Sara George – Chair, Bar Association for Commerce, Finance & Industry

Ian Clarke KC – Chair, Chancery Bar Association

Henry King KC – Chair, Commercial Bar Association

Riel Karmy-Jones KC – Chair, Criminal Bar Association

Leslie Samuels KC – Chair, Family Law Bar Association

Adam Baradon KC – Chair, London Bar Association

 

Association representatives

Anneli Howard KC - Bar European Group representative

Amy Mannion KC – Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association representative 

Charlie Woodhouse KC – Personal Injuries Bar Association representative

Philippa Hopkins KC – Commercial Bar Association representative

James Pickering KC – Chancery Bar Association representative

Andrew Thomas KC – Criminal Bar Association representative

Jeffrey Jupp KC – Employment Law Bar Association representative

David Bunting – Bar Association for Commerce Finance & Industry

Maddy Charlesworth, FDA – Crown Prosecution Service representative

Dr Mirza Ahmad – Bar Association for Local Government and the Public Service representative

James Roberts KC – Family Law Bar Association representative

Shobana Iyer – Intellectual Property Bar Association representative

Luka Krsljanin – London Bar Association representative

Stephanie Hall – Planning & Environment Bar Association representative

Ivor Collett – Professional Negligence Bar Association representative

Faisel Sadiq – Property Bar Association representative

Dilpreet Dhanoa – Revenue Bar Association representative

Luke Wygas – Technology & Construction Bar Association representative

   

Elected: self-employed King's Counsel 

Matthew Butt KC

Jaime Hamilton KC

Fenner Moeran KC

Deshpal Panesar KC

Laurie-Anne Power KC

Tony Singla KC

 

Elected: self-employed juniors over 7 years in practice 

Shazia Akhtar

Elaine Banton

Abigail Bright

Cleon Catsambis

Celina Colquhoun

Beth Crocker

Anton van Dellen

Andrew Duncan

Sarah Gaunt

Shobana Iyer

Asad Maqsood

Katrina Mather

Martyn McLeish

Michael Polak

Daniel Sheridan

Philip Stott

John-Paul Swoboda

Leanne Targett-Parker

David Christopher Taylor

Sam Thomas

Emma Walker

 

Elected: self-employed juniors under 7 years in practice

Yaa Dankwa Ampadu-Sackey

Andrew Brooke

Bella Dennis

Amrit Dhanoa

Rabby Fozlay

Emma Hughes

James Kane

Nancy Kelehar

Matthew Keliris-Thomas

Sophie Stevens

Lachlan Stewart

Harry Stratton

 

Elected: employed KC or juniors over 7 years in practice

Mike Jones KC

Ben Bentley

Jonathan Foy

Peter Grieves-Smith

Lorinda Long

Lucinda Orr

Simon Regis, CBE

Hannah Smith

Sarah Williams

 

Elected: employed juniors under 7 years in practice 

Verity Bell

Brittany Buckell

Aoife Kennedy

Sam Kharabanda Groom

Aimee Stokes

Alexandra Sutton 

 

Co-opted members

Rachel Crasnow KC

Eleena Misra KC

Marion Smith KC

Dominic Boothroyd

Michelle Butler

Amelia Clegg

William Dean

Samantha Singer

 

 

2026

• Monday 12 January 2026 - Chair’s inaugural address at Gray's Inn
• Saturday 7 February 2026 - Bar Council offices
• Tuesday 14 April 2026 - Bar Council offices
• Tuesday 23 June 2026 - (Inns Location tbc) - followed by the Bar Council Summer Reception
• Saturday 12 September 2026 (this is followed by the AGM) - Bar Council offices
• Saturday 14 November 2026 - (Time/Location tbc)
• Wednesday 2 December 2026 - “First meeting of the Bar Council 2027”, online only