Serle Court came into existence in late 1999 as the product of the merger of two illustrious sets practising from Thirteen Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn and One Hare Court in the Temple. The One Hare Court and Thirteen Old Square barristers moved together to a new flagship building in Lincolns’ Inn, and both adopted that building’s name as the name for the merged Chambers. There is a further word about the building at the foot of this page.
Mergers at the Bar are rare enough, but this one was both groundbreaking and far-sighted: groundbreaking, because Thirteen Old Square was a commercial Chancery set, and One Hare Court a blue-chip commercial chambers; far-sighted, because it anticipated a significant development in the substantive law – that principles of equity would increasingly come to be deployed ever more innovatively to resolve business disputes. These origins go a long way to explaining why even today, Serle Court is often termed “the most commercial of the commercial Chancery sets”.
Each of the legacy sets had its own impressive history. Founding dates are uncertain but are in either case no later than the early 1920s. Former members of Thirteen Old Square had included Lord Justice (Reginald) Goff, Sir Francis Ferris and Sir Gavin Lightman, all judges of the Chancery Division. Sir Gavin’s father, the eminent Harold Lightman QC, was succeeded in 1967 as head of Chambers by the polymath Charles Sparrow QC, who led the set until his retirement at the time of the merger. Former members of One Hare Court included, impressively, Baron Slynn of Hadley, Lord Justice (Roger) Parker, Lord Justice (Mark) Waller, and Sir Henry Fisher.
The first Head of Chambers at the new merged set was Patrick Neill QC, Baron Neill of Bladen, then the chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, but in the recent past, the Warden of All Souls College and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. He was succeeded as Head of Chambers by Richard Southwell QC, one of the leading commercial silks of his day and a Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey; and thereafter by the stellar Alan Boyle KC, whose prominence in the jurisdictions of the Caribbean laid the path for Chambers’ ongoing success there today.
The first chair of the management committee of the merged set was Michael Briggs KC, now Lord Briggs of Westbourne, PC. With Alan, Michael provided both personal and intellectual leadership to Chambers until his elevation to the High Court in 2006. Other judicial alumni of Chambers include Sir Nicholas Lavender and Master (James) Brightwell.
Lastly, as to the eponymous building, Serle Court: this is a Grade II* listed double-fronted Georgian masterpiece, the key building in New Square. It bears the name originally given to the three terraces constructed by a bencher of the Inn, Henry Serle, between 1682 and 1693. In 1998-1999, the Society of Lincoln’s Inn as freeholder unified the use of the building from a series of small sets into one holding, and refurbished it for the intended occupation of the newly merged set. For their side of the project, Chambers retained the architect Niall McLaughlin, later the 2026 RIBA Gold Medallist. The impressive and stylish building remains home to the next generation of Serle Court barristers.
