Building your practice: Opportunities for the Young Bar

Chair of the Bar Council’s Young Barristers’ Committee

Michael Polak is a member of Church Court Chambers and practises in international law, crime, human rights, and strategic litigation.

Prior to becoming Chair of the Young Barristers’ Committee, Michael was President of Middle Temple Young Barrister’s Association and in the past he has been the elected Chair of the Human Rights Lawyers Association’s Young Lawyers’ Committee where he started the annual judicial review competition and journal, the Young Human Rights Lawyer.

Michael is on the Hall Committee of Middle Temple and is an elected member of the South-Eastern Circuit and the Bar Council.

Practice Manager, 3VB 

Samantha joined chambers in June 2019. Prior to joining chambers Samantha spent 9 years at a leading multi-disciplinary civil set and a leading Shropshire Law firm. Samantha holds an LLB Law Degree from the University of Wales Aberystwyth and an ILEX Post-Graduate Diploma. Samantha is an active member of the Institute of Barristers Clerk (IBC) and sits on the Management and Education Committees.

39 Essex Chambers

Grace is a barrister at 39 Essex Chambers, a qualified Hong Kong solicitor and has rights of audience before the AIFC Court (Kazakhstan), DIFC Courts (Dubai) and the SICC (Singapore). She is a member of the Bar Council’s ADR Panel and is included on various panels and databases of arbitrators including AIAC; HKIAC; LCIA; LMAA; SIAC; Sport Resolutions and WIPO. She has also been appointed as an adjudicator on several cases. Grace has taught law at various universities in the UK and in Taiwan. She previously worked at Slaughter and May and was judicial assistant to the Honourable Mr Justice Blair when he was the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court. 

Spire Barristers

Aaqib is a tenant at Spire Barristers and specialises in all aspects of family children work and is also developing a practice in the Court of Protection. Aaqib frequently takes on work on a pro bono basis and has developed a strong relationship with Advocate and the Family Legal Advice Clinic run by BPP. He also coaches and mentors students at his former secondary school in the Bar Mock Trial Competition. He has recently developed his own mentoring programme which focuses on providing advice to students undertaking the BPTC.

Senior Consultant, Linklaters LLP, and Former Treasury Solicitor, Procurator General and Permanent Secretary of the Government Legal Department

Jonathan Jones was a government lawyer for over 30 years, holding senior legal posts in HM Treasury, the Education Department, the Attorney General’s Office and the Home Office.  From 2014-2020 Jonathan was Treasury Solicitor, HM Procurator General and Permanent Secretary of the Government Legal Department – the most senior official in the UK government. He is now a senior consultant in public and constitutional law at Linklaters LLP.  He is also a visiting professor at Durham Law School and a bencher of Middle Temple.  He was appointed honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2019 and knighted (KCB) for public service in 2020.