‘The set has brilliant clerks.’
‘Clerking wise, they're brilliant. In Keith Poynter, they have the senior clerk who every firm would want.’ Chambers UK Bar 2025
'One of the best sets of chambers in London with barristers of the highest quality.' The Legal 500 2025
We welcome instructions from professional clients in both public and private practice to undertake privately funded, direct access and legal aid work.
Our experienced team of clerks will ensure that your enquiry is properly considered and identify a suitable barrister from amongst our talented and diverse members who will have conduct of your case throughout. We understand the importance of assigning a barrister to your case at an early stage to ensure consistency, inspire confidence and maximise the chances of a positive outcome for your clients.
All of our members pride ourselves on communicating with those who instruct them promptly and efficiently and ensuring that they develop and maintain mutually rewarding relationships not just with their instructing lawyers, but also with your clients.
Our clerking team work with the barristers to provide fees estimates and budgets for each instruction. Whilst we charge competitive market rates commensurate with the service provided we are always willing to discuss the way our fees are structured in order to find a solution that works.
Barristers in Chambers most often charge hourly rates for privately funded work. In such cases our barristers work under the standard default terms provided by the Bar Council, known as The Standard Contractual Terms for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons 2012 (Updated for the GDPR in 2018) which may be found on their website:
Contractual Terms – Bar Council - Practice & Ethics (barcouncilethics.co.uk)
The hourly rate for a particular case or a specific piece of work will normally be agreed in advance and takes into account the market rate, the individual barrister’s skill and experience and the particular circumstances of the case or work, including its complexity.
Fixed fees, conditional fee agreements and different contractual terms may also be considered in certain cases.
For specific enquiries, or to find out more about what we can offer, please contact our clerking team by phone or by filling out the form below.
A list of recent and upcoming events and seminars can be found at the ‘news’ section of the website but we are always happy to tailor training to your specific needs. If you are a professional client and would like to discuss opportunities for the provision of in-house training and seminars please contact dhockley@2hb.co.uk.
Members of the public and companies may now instruct a barrister without employing a solicitor under the Direct Access scheme, also known as Public Access.
Under this scheme you will have direct contact with a specialist barrister of your choice throughout your case and will avoid incurring the extra cost of a solicitor.
We have specialist Direct Access trained barristers available in the following practice areas:
Fraud and Financial Crime; Criminal Defence; Regulatory; Professional Discipline; Health and Safety and Road Traffic Offences.
To find out if your case is suitable for Direct Access and to determine which level of barrister you require please contact our clerks using the contact form below or by telephone on 0207 353 2112. Your case will be reviewed by a qualified Direct Access barrister within 48 working hours of the receipt of all relevant information. A client care letter, setting out our terms and fees, will be sent to you. A copy must be signed and returned, along with proof of identity and address, in order to comply with Bar Standards Board regulations.
The fees for each matter will be determined by the nature of the case, the level of complexity and the seniority of the barrister. For this type of work, our barristers most often charge hourly rates, and estimates based on ranges of hourly rates for barristers in Chambers are set out below. VAT is charged on fees where applicable. Your fees may vary depending on your needs – for example, your fees may be towards the higher end of the range if you need a more experienced barrister or King’s Counsel and/or you have a complex case. If you have a particularly complex case, your fees may also be higher than the estimates below. Fees for an initial conference with a qualified junior barrister start from £250 + VAT.
Stage of case - range of hourly rates (estimates)
Written advice on your case: £100-£600 + VAT, approximately 1-10 hours
Preparation of case, including conferences with you and assistance with drafting of court documents:
£100-£600 + VAT, approximately 1-10 hour
Guilty pleas: £100-£600 + VAT, approximately 1-5 hours
First appearance (pre-trial court appearance): £100-£600 + VAT, approximately 1-5 hours
First day of trial: £100-£600 + VAT, approximately 5-10 hours
Court appearances per day, after the first day of trial: £100-£600 + VAT, approximately 5-10 hours per day
All fees will be agreed in advance with the clerks and will be set out clearly in the client care letter. These fees will be binding unless the scope of the legal services changes.
Timescales indicated will be adhered to as far as possible, but certain factors may influence this including the complexity of the case; additional evidence which is outstanding or served late; enquiries regarding defence evidence; the availability of witnesses; and the availability of a courtroom in which to hear the case.
At present the Direct Access scheme does not apply to publically funded work (legal aid). If your case is not suitable for Direct Access our clerks can recommend an appropriate solicitor for both private and publically funded work. Our barristers have a duty to inform you at any stage of proceedings if it is in your interest, or that of justice, to instruct a solicitor.
Two Harcourt Buildings is committed to providing an excellent level of advice and representation to all members of the public.
For further information please see the guidance issued by the Bar Council here.
REGULATORY AND COMPLAINTS INFORMATION
We aim to provide an excellent quality of service at all times. If you are unsatisfied with any area of our service, we would encourage you to let us know immediately.
In many cases, potential complaints can be resolved informally without resort to the formal complaints procedure. Please direct your complaint to our Senior Clerk Keith Poynter. In our experience, complaints can often be resolved satisfactorily in this way without recourse to the more formal procedure.
If the case cannot be resolved informally in a satisfactory way, Chambers has adopted a formal complaints policy which ensures that complaints are dealt with appropriately. A copy of the policy may be found here. It also provides information on any right you may have to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) – the independent body which can help you if you have complained to your lawyer and are not happy with their response - how to complain to the LeO; and any time limits for making a complaint. You can also search the decision data on the LeO’s website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/raising-standards/data-and-decisions/#ombudsman-decision-data. This shows providers which received an ombudsman’s decision in the previous calendar year, and whether the LeO required the provider to give the consumer a remedy. Alternatively, you can contact the LeO on 0300 555 0333 to ask about this or e-mail enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.
Barristers in Chambers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board. You can search the Barristers’ Register on the Bar Standards Board’s website: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/regulatory-requirements/the-barristers'-register/. This shows (1) whether a barrister has a current practising certificate, and (2) whether a barrister has any disciplinary findings, which are published on the Bar Standards Board’s website in
accordance with their policy. Alternatively, you can contact the Bar Standards Board on 020 7611 1444 to ask about this (or e-mail contactus@barstandardsboard.org.uk).
For further information, or for a hard copy of the information on this page, please contact the clerking team by telephone on 0207353 2112, by email at clerks@2hb.co.uk or by post addressed to The Senior Clerk at Two Harcourt Buildings, 1st Floor left, 2 Harcourt Buildings, Temple, London, EC4Y 9DB.
'Keith Poynter is a great clerk and Gary Wright is also very personable and easy to work with.'
'Senior clerk Keith Poynter is first rate in his client care and ability to provide the perfect counsel for each case.'
'Gary Wright and Keith Poynter are utterly client focused, extremely responsive, and know the market inside out. They are also very adept at encouraging and nurturing new and existing streams of work.'
'The clerks are superb - they have a lovely ethos and work hard to make sure that chambers is run efficiently and well. They are a joy to deal with.'
'2 Harcourt Buildings is an excellent set that conducts high-end prosecution and defence work. They have a range of seniority of counsel who are suitable for a wide breadth of matter types.'
'They are a good set with good counsel.'
'2 Harcourt Buildings has real strength in depth when it comes to prosecution. They never disappoint.'
The Legal 500 2025
The clerks go above and beyond to assist at all hours of the day in any way they can.
Chambers UK Bar 2024
‘Keith Poynter is really good and very straightforward to deal with. Gary Wright is a really nice guy and a very helpful clerk. They’re both really safe pairs of hands.’
‘Keith Poynter is a top clerk and a natural leader. He is extremely responsive, always available and great at sorting diary issues. He is widely respected by solicitors, counsel and other clerks. He is ably assisted by Gary Wright who complements his proactive approach.’
‘2 Harcourt Chambers has now developed into a set with a prominent defence practice. Historically, they have had a reputation as being a prosecution set but are now conducting complex and high-profile defence work.’
‘A premier league set in every respect.’
‘2 Harcourt Buildings is an outstanding chambers. It has a national reputation for conducting the most serious prosecutions, and is a ‘go-to’ set for two counsel cases. At the junior end it is arguably the most experienced and able set of criminal juniors at the Bar.’
‘A fine chambers with a broad range of quality advocates. A top set.’
‘A set whose clerks are always happy to assist where they can. Both senior and junior members are popular and sought-after.’
Legal 500 2024
‘Senior Clerk Keith Poynter is a diary wizard; he is assisted by Gary Wright, Joe Scanlan and Amanda Copas, all of whom are excellent, friendly and super responsive .’
Chambers UK Bar 2023
Our clerking team is dedicated to providing an exceptional service to each and every one of our clients, and will always endeavour to provide first-class counsel at whatever level of experience your case requires. We aim to foster a close working relationship and you can expect to get to know every member of our small team personally. We have deliberately avoided over-expansion and, as a result, we are proud to be able to offer quality counsel across the board coupled with a friendly and efficient service from the clerks’ room. We will give honest advice about the level of experience a case requires and the particular strengths and expertise of individual barristers.
We actively monitor our service by conducting regular surveys of our clients to ensure we are delivering on our promises.
If you are considering instructing us for the first time please contact Keith who will be happy to answer any questions you may have. He will also be delighted to come to your offices to meet with you in person. We have attracted many new clients in the last few years and they have stayed with us. As well as contacting our clerks individually you can use the form below for general enquiries or, alternatively, email our clerks room at clerks@2hb.co.uk.
Keith Poynter - Senior Clerk
Gary Wright - First Junior Clerk
Amanda Copas - Second Junior Clerk
Clare Wright - Third Junior Clerk
Reg Harris - Fees Clerk
Vicky Beasley - Administrator