We are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted at the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2026.
The Chambers UK Bar Awards 2026 honours outstanding UK barristers, sets, and legal teams.
Garden Court Chambers is delighted to be shortlisted in three categories:
- Client Service Set of the Year – Garden Court Chambers
- Environment/Planning Silk of the Year – Marc Willers KC
- Inquests & Public Inquiries Set of the Year – Garden Court Chambers
Marc Willers KC: Environment/Planning Silk of the Year
Marc Willers KC is regularly instructed to advise on challenges to the grant of planning permission for development that has an impact on the environment. Marc was leading Counsel in Sarah Finch’s successful appeal before the Supreme Court against the decision of Surrey County Council to grant planning permission for oil production in the Surrey Hills.
Marc led the legal team in the successful Privy Council case of Mussington and Frank. He also successfully represented Clodagh Miskelly of Stop Whitehead Oil Terminal (SWOT) in an Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review, alongside Acland Bryant. The decision to approve the oil terminal expansion was quashed.
Marc also successfully represented the Swiss Senior Women, as part of an international legal team in the first climate litigation case heard by the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, advising Greenpeace pro bono. Marc is a University College Cork Adjunct Professor and Goldsmiths University Visiting Professor, giving talks to students. Marc was Joint Head of Garden Court between 2016 – 2020 and won Legal Aid Lawyer 2011. Marc regularly writes for Gypsy and Traveller Law and Environment Law (LAG). He edited the Environmental Justice Network Ireland’s handbook.
Client Service Set of the Year
Garden Court has been recognised for providing exceptional client service, as researched by the Chambers UK Bar team.
Garden Court Chambers offers our clients excellence in advocacy and legal advice. Our highly responsive team-based clerking ensures we maintain the highest levels of customer service.
Our Director of Clerking, Colin Cook, has been instrumental in growing Garden Court Chambers to become the largest set of barristers in London. Day to day, he maintains oversight of the clerking teams, and is known for being available to all, both in the UK and internationally.
Inquests & Public Inquiries Set of the Year
Garden Court is one of the leading barristers’ chambers in the UK representing bereaved families in inquests and core participants in public inquiries.
Our inquest barristers have been involved in most of the landmark and far-reaching inquests including the Hillsborough inquests, the Birmingham Pub Bombings Inquest, the Mark Duggan inquest, the Litvinenko inquest and inquests into historic political deaths in Northern Ireland such as the Ballymurphy Inquest.
Garden Court has also been involved in ground-breaking inquiries such as the Cranston Inquiry, Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the Undercover Policing Inquiry, the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
Members of the team have acted as counsel to the Coroner in several notable inquests and we are active members and supporters of INQUEST, the campaign group supporting families of those who have died in state custody
View the full shortlist here. The Awards will take place on Thursday 12 November 2026.
