Women at the Bar

Our video, “A Brilliant Place for a Woman to Practise” gives a glimpse into life as a woman at One Essex Court and the steps we are taking to encourage and support women wishing to apply to the Commercial Bar.

Women at One Essex Court work across the whole range of our practice areas and have incredibly successful practices. To take only a few examples:

• Hannah Brown KC and Lauren Hitchman form part of the claimants’ counsel team, and Emma Jones part of the team for one of the defendants, in the forthcoming 12-week Commercial Court trial in Crane Bank v DCFU, concerning claims of unlawful means conspiracy, bribery and dishonest assistance.
• Patricia Burns is part of the claimants’ counsel team in Bourlakova v Bourlakov, a multi-billion dollar fraud claim brought against a deceased oligarch (and his associates) by his family members. The case is listed for a 15-week trial in 2027.
• Hannah Glover acted for the successful defendant, Associated Newspapers Ltd, in the 46-day trial in early 2026 of the claims brought for misuse of private information and breach of confidence by Prince Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Elizabeth Hurley, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Simon Hughes and Sadie Frost Law.
• Sonia Tolaney KC represented Deutsche Bank in its successful appeal in May 2026 culminating in a landmark Court of Appeal Judgment on the Court’s inherent jurisdiction in long-running litigation between Deutsche Bank and billionaire businessman Alexander Vik.
• Anna Boase KC and Joyce Arnold represented the successful defendant at a 7-day trial in March 2025, in resisting a claim brought against him for breach of warranty and fraudulent misrepresentation relating to the sale of a business to the Claimant, and in his counterclaim for declaratory relief.
• Tamara Kagan, Stephanie Wood, Veena Srirangam and Jade Fowler acted for BHP in the 12-week trial in early 2025 of the high-profile group claim brought by c.700,000 claimants in relation to the collapse of the Fundão Dam in Brazil.
• Abra Bompas and Sabrina Nanchahal acted for the Danish Tax and Customs Administration and Hannah Glover acted for a defendant group in the 1-year trial of the claimant’s DKK 12 billion (c. £1.5 billion) fraud claim, which concluded in April 2025. The case featured in The Lawyer’s “Top 20 Cases” for 2024 and has been described as “one of the largest and most complex pieces of litigation to be heard in the Commercial Court”.
• Ruihan Liu acted for Johnson Matthey plc in a 5-week trial in November and December 2025 in successfully resisting a “high stakes” fraud claim arising out of a Sale and Purchase Agreement.

There is a real sense of community amongst the women in chambers. Our women’s committee (led by Anna Boase KC) organises regular women’s social events, including an annual Christmas celebration, regular breakfasts, summer picnics and junior drinks evenings and dinners.

The committee also works alongside our excellent clerking team, in particular Daniele Thripp, and marketing team, Lorraine Lister and Chantal Perdreau, to organise women’s networking events with our clients. In the last year, events have included a trip to see Inter Alia at the National Theatre, a Senior Women in Law dinner at Spring in Somerset House and a pasta-making class at Pasta Evangelists.

Parental leave and childcare: We do not view parental leave and childcare responsibilities as an exclusively “women’s issue”. However, we recognise that they are likely to be at the forefront of the minds of many women wishing to apply to the Commercial Bar. One Essex Court has an excellent parental leave policy, under which members can take up to two years of leave and are entitled to an interest-free loan of up to £80,000 on their return. New parents continue to be supported by the clerking team whilst on leave and are given support on returning to work in re-establishing their practice. Chambers also supports flexible working for both members and staff. It is testament to the level of support in place that all women who have taken maternity leave have returned to very successful practices.

Equal work opportunities: One Essex Court is committed to ensuring that all members of Chambers and pupils receive equal access to work, marketing and networking. Our Fair Allocation of Work and Opportunities policy ensures that Chambers is taking the steps required to ensure that barristers and pupils have an equal opportunity to be put forward for work in a way which is fair and free from discrimination.

We believe that to be truly excellent, the Commercial Bar must reflect the diversity of the society it serves. The steps One Essex Court is taking, both on its own and together with other chambers, are forging the way to making a difference.

One Essex Court is very proud to have been at the forefront of the drive to encourage and support women interested in applying to the Commercial Bar. We began our “Women at the Commercial Bar” programme nearly ten years ago. Since then, we have supported hundreds of women (we think nearly 1,000) interested in a career at the Commercial Bar through mentoring, skills workshops, open days and panel events hosted by One Essex Court, as well as through events organised in collaboration with other commercial chambers.

We have received fabulous feedback from these events, and we have been happy to see many familiar faces at pupillage interviews and to hear from women we have helped to achieve their career goals. We are delighted that some women who attended our events have since become members of chambers.

We are proud signatories to the Women in Law Pledge created by the Bar Council of England and Wales, The Law Society, and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx). We are committed to the progress of equality, elimination of sex discrimination and pledge to make positive change for the legal profession.