Northampton Chambers aims to provide the highest possible standards of advocacy, advice and service. With this in mind, we provide this information in order to set out in clear terms, our policies and practices as they relate directly to the service we provide for you. We ask you to keep this information on file and to contact our Senior Clerk should you have any queries that you feel remain unanswered by this letter or our other promotional materials / activities.
Quality Standards
Review of new Instructions and Briefs: Counsel will review new briefs and instructions within 3 days of receipt (or sooner if marked urgent) to provide an initial response or to assess whether they are able to conduct the work by the date required. If the agreed deadline is not possible, a revised date will be negotiated or if there is no room for manoeuvre, the instructions will be reallocated to someone (generally more senior, but in any case, with your approval), who is able to comply.
Paperwork: It is Chambers' policy that all written work should be completed within 14 days. This standard will be applied unless you agree to another deadline (shorter or longer) appropriate to your case. Any such agreement will be recorded on our computer system so that we can monitor progress against our commitment to you. Every attempt will be made to adhere to these arrangements but we will notify you as soon as possible in the unlikely event of our being unable to meet the deadline set. If a matter is required to be dealt with urgently, it would assist if you could contact us in advance and/or clearly mark the back sheet as 'urgent'.
Court Appearances: When you contact Chambers to book Counsel, we will advise you if the barrister of your choice has an existing commitment and establish your wishes as to use of alternative Counsel. Should you wish to double-book your preferred counsel, we will keep you informed as to likely availability as the court date approaches so that you may reassess your options. In the unusual circumstance that acceptable cover cannot be provided within Chambers, we will, if required, assist in finding other Chambers to assist you.
Briefs: It is vital to the smooth and effective handling of a case that we have sufficient time to prepare for court appearances. Many cases now require skeleton arguments to be lodged in advance of the hearing so it is therefore essential that instructions are sent giving ample time for preparation. For our part, we shall ensure that we review briefs within 7 days or as agreed and arrive at court within plenty of time to allow time for discussion with yourself and your client.
General Policies
Members of Chambers practise under the Code of Conduct of the Bar of England & Wales and adhere to Chambers policies and procedures defined in our Quality Manual. This has been developed to ensure compliance with the Bar Council's Practice Management Standards and to achieve the 'Barmark' Standard. We uphold the Bar Council's Policy for Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination. As we have difficulty in adapting our premises for disabled users, our policy is to travel for conferences where needed.
Basis of Fees / Terms of Business
We strive to provide a very high quality service at competitive rates. Our Senior Clerk is available to discuss levels and basis of fees with you and our policy for fees and terms of business is also available on request or via the web-site.
Continuous Improvement: The Management System we operate incorporates continuous improvement mechanisms that allow us to monitor our effectiveness against our standards, procedures and policies and to instigate improvement initiatives where relevant. An important source of information for improvement comes from client feedback and we would ask you to inform us immediately should you experience any difficulty with our Chambers, its staff or its members, please contact our Senior Clerk (Tel: 01604 636271 or clerks@northampton-chambers.co.uk) or Head of Chambers Maria Savvides who has ultimate responsibility (Tel: 01604 636271 or maria@northampton-chambers.co.uk). We have appropriate internal procedures for addressing clients' concerns and take their comments seriously.
The Future:
We have strategic development and planning processes in place to ensure that clear objectives are set and the services we provide keep pace with changing client needs and a rapidly changing legal profession. We welcome your views regarding our services and to this end would encourage you to provide feedback regarding the service provided either on a case by case basis or during training and social events. From time to time, we will also conduct surveys to gauge opinion on how well we are achieving our objectives and would appreciate a few minutes of your time in completing the form if you are one of our clients selected, at random, to participate in this process. You can also contact our Senior Clerk at any time or e-mail us with your views via clerks@northampton-chambers.co.uk.
In the meantime, thank you for valued instructions and please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance.