It’s that time of year where everyone talks about what they’ve achieved in the past 12 months. Well, Unit Chambers has only been around for five months so here’s what our first 150 days have looked like!
Evolution of Unit Chambers
In late July, Unit Chambers was born. Thanks to our fantastic Branding & Marketing Partner, Opportunus, we created a unique verbal and visual identity. ‘Unit’ refers to an individual person regarded as complete but who can also form a larger whole. ‘Unit Chambers’ therefore became a duality of the family unit in relation to the field of law and the collective expertise and camaraderie of the chamber family.
In the same month, we moved into our fantastic office at Avenue HQ, St. Paul’s Square, Liverpool. Situated in the heart of the city and close to all major transport links, St. Paul’s Square was the perfect choice for us. Although we haven’t spent as much time as we hoped in our office, we can’t wait to welcome our colleagues and clients in 2021!
Our Team
Over the past five months, our team has tripled in numbers and we now have a family of our own! Our CEO and Senior Consultant Barrister; Lisa, Executive Chairman; Roger, our fantastic Support Team; Eve and Liam, our two Consultant Barristers; Kristine and Kerri and our three inspiring Pupil Barristers; Lyana, Amjad and Natasha. We are so grateful to our team for working so successfully in these ever-changing times and we couldn’t be prouder of the work they have undertaken and completed. We also want to thank our administrative partners, Langtons Chartered Accounts, O’Conners Legal Services, Martin Griffiths from Redbag Consulting and Advanced Chamber Management for all their support throughout the year.
MJLD Annual Award Nominees
Our first 150 days have had a particular focus on supporting the next generation of barristers in the field. Covid-19 or not, we made a commitment to support the ‘Next Gen’ and we have kept to that promise. Our Pupil Barristers have thus far shown such talent and potential working in these constantly fluctuating times. Amjad, Lyana and Kristine (Consultant Barrister) were all shortlisted in the Merseyside Junior Lawyers Division Annual Awards for Pupil Barrister/Newly Qualified Barrister of the Year.
We were so proud to see three of our team members in the top five who were shortlisted. We were even prouder when MJLD announced that Amjad had won the Pupil Barrister of the Year! These nominations highlight just how far our team have come in such a short space of time and we promise to continue to honour our commitment to support the next generation of barristers.
Our Work
Since July, we’ve been incredibly grateful for the amount of work we’ve received and our fantastic clients. As a new set of chambers focusing on family law, we knew we had found a niche in the market, but we never expected to have such a high quality work load in such a short amount of time! Not only have we had a high quality workflow coming in, we have had fantastic results in the court room with reported cases and great feedback from lay and professional clients which has been humbling. So thank you to all who have supported us and continue to support us, we really look forward to working with you in 2021.
Another commitment we made when Unit Chambers came to fruition was ensuring all team members had a sustainable work/life balance as well as the resources to learn and develop on a personal level. We have promoted remote working from the start with our colleagues as well as giving them the option to work from the office should they feel like it. Our underlying aim is to make the Bar accessible for everyone. We do this in a number of ways; from our flexible and relaxed approach to pupillage recruitment to our firm commitment to equality and diversity. From our modern approach to Chambers management to the democratic culture and rock-solid communications within the team. All these elements highlight the need for the Bar to become more accessible to everyone and we want to pioneer this movement.
As a team we continue to develop professionally. For example, Kerri (Consultant Barrister) recently became a registered CMC Civil and Commercial Mediator and Lisa recently completed the Inns of Court College Advocacy and Vulnerable Training course. These achievements highlight not only our support for personal development but also the hunger within our team to do their job in the best possible way.
Unit Chambers Outreach
We’ve taken part in a few different projects over the past five months. We launched our webinar series, ‘The Business of Law’ which was a huge success with our first episode focusing on moving Chambers as well as transferring to the Bar. For our advice on moving Chambers, take a look at our blog.
We have been volunteering with We Are Advocate, the pro bono charity of the Bar, who partner with barristers to provide legal aid to those who can’t afford it. Lisa (CEO and Senior Consultant Barrister) has thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at We Are Advocate and helping those in need of legal support. This partnership will continue into 2021. Lisa has also been busy working with Liverpool Law Society for their Public Child Law Conference which took place in November. As part of the conference, Lisa was invited to be a guest speaker on the topic of adoption and we are very grateful to Liverpool Law Society for inviting Lisa to join them at the virtual conference.
2020 was a year of continuous development, adaption and determination and at Unit Chambers we feel like alongside the rest of the nation, we’ve also done just that! We can’t wait to see what 2021 will bring for us and we want to say once again how grateful we are for all those who have supported and continue to support us.
All the very best for the New Year!
The Unit Chambers Team