About 2 King’s Bench Walk
2 King’s Bench Walk operates from two locations – London and Portsmouth. We are historically a Western Circuit Chambers but practice equally throughout the Circuit, London, the Thames Valley and the South East.
There are four main practice areas – Crime, Family, Civil, and Immigration.
Our criminal barristers specialisms include Confiscation, Prison Law, Regulatory and Courts Martial with areas of particular speciality in complex fraud, homicide, sexual offences and controlled drugs cases.
Our family barristers specialisms include Adoption, Ancillary Relief, Appeals, Care Proceedings, Child Abduction, Contact, Divorce & Judicial Separation, Domestic Violence, Injunctions, Judicial Review, Mental Health, Parental Responsibility Applications, Residence and Wardship.
Civil barristers specialisms include Constitutional Law, Contract Law, Debt and Asset Recovery, Land and Trust Law, Landlord and Tenant, Employment Law, Personal Injury, Medical and Professional Negligence, Tort Law, Health & Safety and Regulatory Law.
The Immigration team provides advocacy and written advice from our barristers across all levels and areas of work.
Public Law work is carried out across the board in Immigration, Family, Criminal and Civil matters.
We have 73 Members of Chambers based in both London and the Western Circuit. Some Members of Chambers practice almost exclusively in one specific field whilst others have a more general practice.
Our history
2 King’s Bench Walk was founded in 1953.
The founding members were Norman Skelhorn QC (later DPP), Raymond Stock QC (later HHJ Stock QC), Nat Blaker QC (later HHJ Blaker QC), JH Inskip QC (later HHJ Inskip QC), John Jenkins and John Whitley (later HHJ Whitley).
Other members soon joined and 2KBW flourished and grew as a Western Circuit set, and as a London set.
65 years ago the Courts were run in a very different way to the current practice. It was the Assizes and Quarter Sessions who conducted criminal cases. The Assize Judge travelled around the Circuit in grand style and the Judge was followed by the barristers. This ensured that 2 King’s Bench Walk barristers covered the entire Western Circuit from Cornwall to Bristol, and including Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. As work grew Chambers expanded and many concentrated on specific locations but Chambers continued to serve all of the Western Circuit, as it does today.
2 King’s Bench Walk have been well served by their elected Heads of Chambers. The longest serving have been Skelhorn, Stock and Blaker (above) and Owen Thomas QC, Anthony Donne QC, Timothy Mousley QC (now HHJ Mousley QC) and William Mousley QC (now HHJ Mousley QC).
They, the Members of Chambers and staff built 2 King’s Bench Walk into one of the leading sets in London and the Western Circuit. This position is still maintained today under the leadership of Matthew Farmer and Russell Pyne.
Health & Well-being
2 KBW Chambers aspires to be a Chambers of Choice and aims to encourage and facilitate working practices and services that support the health and well-being of all staff, pupils and barristers. See our Well-being policy below.