Employed Bar Awards 2026

Kirsty Brimelow KC

Kirsty Brimelow KC is Chair of the Bar 2026. Kirsty practises in criminal, international and public law from Doughty Street Chambers, where she is on the management board as head of the criminal law team. Kirsty was appointed Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 2011. Kirsty has the distinction of having led in both Civil and Criminal Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court, the Privy Council, and the European Court of Human Rights. 

In 2021, Kirsty was appointed a deputy High Court judge in the King’s Bench Division and in 2022 appointed a Recorder. She is an accredited mediator and acts in conflict resolution. Kirsty worked in the Colombia peace process and negotiated an historic apology from the former President of Colombia to a community of farmers, for a massacre. 

Kirsty was a member of the Bar Council Public Affairs Committee and a Bar Council Young Spokesperson from 1998 to 2008. Kirsty was the first female Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee (2012 to 2018) and served as the Vice Chair and then Chair of the Criminal Bar Association (2021 to 2023). In 2022, she led negotiations with the government of an historic increase in fees for criminal barristers. 

Kirsty is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and was elected to the management board (2020 to 2023). She is an experienced high-level trainer, facilitator, and conference speaker in international human rights around the world, holding consultancies to the United Nations and OSCE (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). She has driven law change including in sexual offences law in Denmark and FGM protection orders in England and Wales.  

In 2018 Kirsty won both the First 100 Years ‘Inspirational Woman in Law Barrister of the Year’ Award and Advocate’s pro bono ‘International Barrister of the Year’ Award. She twice has featured as The Times Lawyer of the week. Kirsty is a trustee and director of the leading global environmental charity WWF UK, visiting professor at Goldsmiths Faculty of Law (2019 to 2025), and founding member of the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk. Kirsty was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for her service to human rights. 

Simon Regis CBE is a Deputy Director at the Government Legal Department (GLD) leading a team advising on Science, Intellectual Property and Space, at the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology. He is a Master of the Bench at the Honourable Society of Inner Temple focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion matters, as well as education and training. Simon was previously one of the co-chairs of our Race Panel before becoming Vice Chair of the Employed Barristers' Committee. 

Lucinda Orr is the Treasurer of the Bar Council for 2026. She is a Partner at Enyo Law LLP, a disputes-only firm, and specialises in commercial litigation and civil fraud and is also the Master of Scholarships at Gray’s Inn, where she has been a Bencher since 2020. She has previously chaired the Bar Association for Commerce, Finance, and Industry (BACFI) in 2012 – 2015, and the Employed Bar Committee in 2017, and again in 2019. In 2024, Lucinda was the inaugural winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Employed Bar Awards.