Bar Council membership, meetings and minutes

Bar Council members 2025

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
Barbara Mills KC

Vice Chair
Kirsty Brimelow 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

Lucy Rigby 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

Guy Williamson – 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

Jaime Hamilton KC – Leader, Northern Circuit

Winston Hunter KC- Northern Circuit

Andrew Howe - Northern Circuit

Jason Pitter KC – Leader, North Eastern Circuit

Nicholas Johnson KC – North Eastern Circuit

Jasmine Chen - North Eastern Circuit

Claire Davies KC – Leader, South Eastern Circuit

Tomas McGarvey – South Eastern Circuit

Harry O'Sullivan – South Eastern Circuit

Caroline Rees KC– Leader, Wales and Chester Circuit

Owen Thomas KC – Wales and Chester Circuit

Cathrine Grubb – Wales and Chester Circuit

Jo Martin KC  – Leader, Western Circuit

Hollie Gilbery – Western Circuit

Kate Lumsdon KC – Western Circuit

 

Association Chairs

Gaynor Wood – Chair, Bar Association for Commerce, Finance & Industry

Ian Clarke KC – Chair, Chancery Bar Association

Alex Gunning KC – Chair, Commercial Bar Association

Mary Prior KC – Chair, Criminal Bar Association

James Roberts KC – Chair, Family Law Bar Association

Adam Baradon KC – Chair, London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association

 

Association representatives

Amy Mannion KC – Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association representative 

Charlie Woodhouse KC – Personal Injuries Bar Association representative

Henry King KC – Commercial Bar Association representative

James Pickering KC – Chancery Bar Association representative

Philip Moser KC – Bar European Group representative

Riel Karmy-Jones KC – Criminal Bar Association representative

Sean Jones KC – Employment Law Bar Association representative

David Bunting – Bar Association for Commerce Finance & Industry

Maddy Charlesworth, FDA – Crown Prosecution Service Section representative

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

Tahmina Rahman – Family Law Bar Association representative

TBC – Government Legal Service 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 

Kama Melly KC

Barbara Mills KC

Fenner Moeran KC

Deshpal Panesar KC

Lucy Reed KC

Tony Singla KC

 

Elected: self-employed juniors over 7 years in practice 

Shazia Akhtar

Elaine Banton

Abigail Bright

Cleon Catsambis

Anton van Dellen

Sarah Gaunt

Sara Ibrahim

Shobana Iyer

Asad Maqsood

Katrina Mather

Martyn McLeish

James Paterson

Michael Polak

Paul Powlesland

Daniel Sheridan

Natasha Shotunde

Anna Soubry

Philip Stott

John-Paul Swoboda

Leanne Targett-Parker

David Christopher Taylor

 

Elected: self-employed juniors under 7 years in practice

Yaa Dankwa Ampadu-Sackey

Bella Dennis

Amrit Dhanoa

Alice Hands

Emma Hughes

James Kane

Anushka Kangesu

Matthew Keliris-Thomas

Shoshana Mitchell

Harry Stratton

Sean Summerfield

Emma Walker

 

Elected: employed KC or juniors over 7 years in practice

Mike Jones KC

Heidi Stonecliffe KC

Lucinda Orr

Peter Grieves-Smith

Lorinda Long

Simon Regis

James Robinson

Emma Torr

Sarah Williams

 

Elected: employed juniors under 7 years in practice 

Brittany Buckell

Sarah Gerrard

Aoife Kennedy

Cait McDonagh

Aimee Stokes

Alexandra Sutton 

 

Co-opted members

Rachel Crasnow KC

Jacob Hallam KC

Stephen Kenny KC

Hugh Mercer KC

Eleena Misra KC

Sara George

Samantha Singer

Lachlan Stewart

 

2025

• Wednesday 8 January 2025 - Chair’s inaugural address at Inner Temple
• Saturday 8 February 2025 - Bar Council offices
• Tuesday 15 April 2025 - Inner Temple
• Tuesday 26 June 2025 - Bar Council offices (followed by the Bar Council Summer Reception)
• Saturday 13 September 2025 (this is followed by the AGM) - Bar Council offices.
• Saturday 15 November 2025 - On circuit (venue tbc)
• Wednesday 3 December 2025 - “First meeting of the Bar Council 2026”, online only