RE: 2026 · BRIEF No. 000

FEE: MARKED

In the matter of

Everything you cannot afford to lose.

Instructions to counsel

Havelock Chambers takes instructions in commercial and appellate work, and in employment matters. Papers are acknowledged the day they arrive, and an opinion comes with a date that will be kept.

Havelock Chambers · 6 Paper Court, Temple Row

Clerk J. Hartree · Papers acknowledged same day

The practice

Instructions we accept

Six areas, worked at trial and on appeal. Each is written up properly on the practice page, with the sort of matter it suits and what the courts have seen from us lately.

(1)

Commercial disputes

Contract, shareholder and partnership fights, from the first furious letter to judgment.

(2)

Appeals

Second opinions on lost causes, and the appeals worth running once the answer is honest.

(3)

Employment

Dismissals, restraints and discrimination claims, acting for employers and the dismissed alike.

(4)

Property & estates

Land and leases, plus contested wills, where the asset matters more than the argument.

(5)

Regulatory & disciplinary

Professionals before their regulators, from first notice to final hearing.

(6)

Arbitration

Commercial arbitration as counsel, where the fight is private but the stakes are not smaller.

Read the practice notes

Reported matters are listed under each area

Fo. 3 · Reported

Recent matters, reported properly

Specimen reports. The practice's own reported matters replace these on build-out.

CONTRACT · Repudiation · Whether affirmed by conduct

Marchwood v Pellin Holdings [2025] EWCA Civ 000

Led for the successful appellant

A distribution agreement ended by email on a Friday afternoon. The Court of Appeal agreed the termination was wrongful and the affirmation argument failed. The award followed the money, with indemnity costs.

EMPLOYMENT · Restraint of trade · Springboard relief

Osei v Bramford Transit [2026] EAT 000

For the respondent employer

Four drivers, one customer list and a fortnight of quiet recruitment. The injunction held at first instance and the appeal tribunal declined to disturb it. The list stayed where it was.

WILLS · Testamentary capacity · Golden rule

Re the Estate of Calverton [2024] EWHC 000 (Ch)

Junior for the estate

A will signed six weeks before death, and two siblings fighting over one farm. The challenge failed on the medical evidence, which had been read rather than skimmed. The farm passed as the testator wrote it.

Speak with the clerk today

Dates and a fee indication before the call ends

The door board

Counsel, in order of call

Painted by hand at the street door and kept honest here. Seniority is a price signal rather than a ranking: match the weight of the case to the years of the counsel.

The endorsement

The clerk answers. That is the whole system.

You get a phone that is picked up and an address that takes papers, with a same-day acknowledgment in writing. It has worked since briefs were tied with tape, and it does not involve a portal or a ticket number.

Joseph Hartree, senior clerk, at the clerks' room desk

The clerks' room

Joseph Hartree

Senior clerk since 2012

Ring before you write. Two minutes with Joseph settles who you need and whether the dates work, and gives you a sense of the fee, before a page is sent.

Direct line

+44 20 0000 0000

Clerks' room

Weekdays 8.30 to 6.30, hearings permitting

Chambers

6 Paper Court, Temple Row, London

Send the papers. We'll take it from here.

Delivery details agreed with the clerk first

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