We are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for Diversity Equity & Inclusion awards at the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2025.
The Chambers UK Bar Awards 2025 honours outstanding UK barristers, sets, and legal teams.
Garden Court Chambers is delighted to be shortlisted in two categories:
- Keir Monteith KC – DEI: Outstanding Contribution
- Garden Court Chambers – DEI: Outstanding Set
Keir Monteith KC – DEI: Outstanding Contribution
Keir is a criminal silk who advocates fearlessly for his clients, many of whom have suffered miscarriages of justice caused by institutional racism, and campaigns tirelessly outside the court room to achieve systemic, meaningful change in this area of criminal justice.
Keir has acted in several high-profile cases to secure the release of young black men wrongly convicted or detained and has done so by highlighting where institutionally racist practices are to blame.
In January 2025, Keir secured the release of Ademola Adedeji in an historic appeal after he was sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm – a conviction based on a few texts in a group chat, drill music, a gang narrative based on racial stereotypes, and police misidentification.
In this case, Keir was the first barrister ever to make public submissions to the Court of Appeal that ‘gang evidence’ is the product of institutional racism.
Keir is a founding member of Art Not Evidence (ANE), launched to limit the prosecution’s use of rap lyrics and music videos as evidence. He was instrumental in drafting a Bill to restrict the use of creative expression as evidence in criminal trials which has support from influential NGOS, celebrities, artists and MPs.
Keir is ranked for criminal law in Chambers UK and the Legal 500. He sits as a Recorder, is a training tutor for the Judicial College, and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer and Simon Fellow at the University of Manchester.
DEI: Oustanding Set
Garden Court is proud of its commitment to diversity. We were founded in 1974 with a commitment to promote social justice and equality. Our founding members wanted to work in an environment with a balance of sexes and races and work towards justice for all. These ‘revolutionary’ aspirations have shaped our standards and we have consistently worked towards achieving social progress. Our motto: ‘Do right, fear no-one’, encapsulates this stance of achieving justice and defending the rights of individuals through an innovative and bold approach.
Our pioneering and award-winning mentoring scheme, ‘Access to the Bar for All’, encourages students from minority and disadvantaged groups to consider a career as a barrister. Sixteen-year-old students, girls and/or those from ethnic minority and disadvantaged groups are offered. In addition to having a barrister mentor over the five-year period, the scheme also awards scholarships to two students, if they study Law, of £7000 per year, over three years. We currently have three recipients who will receive the Garden Court Chambers’ Access to the Bar for All Scholarship during their undergraduate study.
In 2024, the scheme was awarded Outstanding in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Social Mobility Award at the Women, Influence & Power in Law UK Awards. In 2020 and 2019, the scheme was awarded Outstanding Contribution to Diversity & Inclusion at the Chambers Bar Awards.
We are also partner of the flagship Bridging the Bar mini-pupillage scheme. Bridging the Bar is a charity committed to increasing the equality of access to opportunities in the legal profession across all underrepresented groups. Garden Court also supports the Bringing [Dis]Ability to the Bar mini-pupillage scheme which aims to dismantle prejudices and barriers that disabled aspiring barristers face in accessing the profession.
Garden Court also proudly supports Lawyers Who Care, an organisation set up to provide support for care-experienced aspiring lawyers by facilitating long term mentoring, training mentors, creating resources for care-experienced aspiring lawyers, and creating networks with law firms and chambers to provide more paid work experience opportunities. Several Garden Court members are mentors for the Lawyers Who Care mentoring scheme.
View the full shortlist here. The Awards will take place on Thursday 13 November 2025.
