Keating Chambers
Chambers profile
Keating Chambers is a leading commercial set. It is one of the two top construction chambers in the UK and worldwide. Keating Chambers and our members are consistently accredited with the top legal industry awards across construction, energy, international arbitration, professional negligence, procurement and planning. Recent accolades include:
• Legal 500 ‘English Bar in the Middle East: Construction Set of the Year’ 2025
• Legal Cheek ‘Chambers of the Year’ 2024
• Chambers & Partners ‘Construction Set of the Year’ 2024
• The Lawyer’s ‘Chambers of the Year’ 2020
• Lexis Nexis ‘Set of the Year’ 2020
The set awards recognise our diversity and inclusion initiatives, financial growth and dominance in the market. In addition, we were shortlisted for “Outstanding Set of the Year for Diversity & Inclusion” at the Chambers & Partners Bar Awards and won Legal Cheek’s “Best Chambers for Social Life” in 2021.
Chambers’ areas of practice are dynamic and challenging. Most of our cases are contractual disputes, but principles of tort, restitution, mistake and misrepresentation frequently arise. The cases are intellectually challenging, and the complexity of the disputes requires thorough analytical skills. Cases involving members of Keating Chambers are regularly featured in The Lawyer’s “Top 20 Cases of the Year” and barristers often feature in The Lawyer’s annual “Hot 100” lists.
Chambers is based in modern premises just outside the Temple. In their first years of practice, tenants can expect earnings equivalent to those in other top sets of commercial chambers.
Funding
Diversity, inclusion & wellbeing
We are fully committed to equality and diversity in both recruitment and the provision of services, and all applications (be it for staff, tenants, pupils or mini-pupils) are considered on merit alone.
Most recently, in September 2022, we were delighted to launch a new social mobility scholarship in partnership with Gray’s Inn, designed to support Bar Course students from backgrounds under-represented at the Bar. The scholarship awards £15,000 to a winning candidate each year, and will support a Bar Student from a background under-represented at the Bar, who may not have otherwise been able to embark on this journey. We will also offer the successful applicant an unassessed mini-pupillage at Keating Chambers and mentoring.
In Summer 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 we collaborated with Lamb Building to host a Summer School. This enabled us to reach a wide range of students who might not have otherwise considered coming to the Commercial Bar. The events were run virtually to ensure maximum accessibility. As well as learning what it is like to practice in these areas, sessions covered pupillage applications, interview skills, advocacy and life as a pupil.
We aim to be at the forefront of gender diversity. We have a high percentage of females in Chambers across barristers and staff including a high proportion of female silks. We are signed up to the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge, which seeks to improve the profile and representation of women in arbitration, and achieve greater female arbitrator appointments. We also arrange targeted events for students to give them exposure to the Commercial Bar from the perspectives of female judges, members of Chambers and pupils, who will discuss their career highlights.
We recognise the importance of the TECBAR “BAME” Network and its efforts to enhance inclusion, participation and progression at the Technology and Construction Bar. We have supported this by hosting CV workshops in Chambers to provide support and encouragement to ethnic minorities considering a career at the Bar, and two Keating barristers were involved in authoring The Specialist Commercial Bar & Black Inclusion – First Steps Report. In 2020 we were pleased to announce ourselves as founding partners of “Bridging the Bar”, supporting their mission to ensure equality of opportunity and diversity within the Bar of England and Wales at all professional levels.
We were one of the first five sets to sign up to the 10,000 Black Interns programme. This initiative aims to transform the horizons and prospects of young Black people in the United Kingdom by offering paid work experience across a wide range of industries. The aim is to provide training and development opportunities and to create a sustainable cycle of mentorship and sponsorship for the Black community.
We have also adopted a contextual recruitment system for our pupillages, mini-pupillages and senior staff recruitment, which will improve our approach to secure people in Chambers from diverse backgrounds who might be disadvantaged by the traditional means of recruitment.