Name: Hugh Southey QC Chambers: Matrix Chambers Location: London University: Imperial College London Degree: Chemical engineering
investment in professional management, the role wasn’t as time consuming as it might be at a different chambers.” The solicitor-to-barrister route Looking at the barristers’ profession in the economic wake of covid-19, he points to “the backlog of cases” in the criminal justice system which reinforces “the need for investment in the criminal Bar.” However, Hugh remains cautious about making predictions given “the obvious fact that there’s going to be a lot of uncertainty and no one can reliably say what’s going to happen.” But he does think that the uncertainty of the times makes his route into the Bar via the solicitors’ profession an even more viable prospect for today’s aspiring advocates: “For some time, I’ve thought that more people will begin taking the route I’ve taken of being a solicitor first and then becoming a barrister. If there’s a downturn in work for a period following covid-19, as seems likely, the work that remains will be with clients who prefer to instruct barristers with greater expertise – there may be less work for those at the very junior end. Working as a solicitor gives you an opportunity to build up that expertise, so that when you come to the Bar you offer added value. The Bar has become incredibly competitive – although it sounds clichéd, I’m not sure that I’d have made it in the current environment. Despite all that I hope that people, particularly those from non- traditional backgrounds, stick at it and become barristers, because ultimately it’s a great job.”
hearings have been frequent. I think the courts worked better during the lockdowns than many people had feared. Trying to focus on a laptop is never going to be the same as being physically in court, where you can see everything around you, so it’s slightly more limiting in that respect as well as more tiring, but in cases where evidence isn’t being called, remote hearings can work well.” “Wow, I’ve made it” Leading cases at the highest level before the Supreme Court, European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights means that Hugh isn’t short of career highlights to discuss, but if he had to choose just one? “Two minutes into making my first set of submissions in the Supreme Court – in a moment of clarity I remember thinking ‘wow, I’ve made it’. It was a case about the rights of people with a conviction that I’d taken from an initial advice up to the highest court. One of the great attractions of being a barrister is that there are many moments throughout your career in which you have a real sense of achievement. You do, however, also need to remind yourself that this is about the person you represent. It’s a privilege to be asked by anyone to represent them.” Pursuing a career as a specialist advocate hasn’t entirely avoided the pull of management. Hugh is a former chair of Matrix’s management committee – the equivalent of head of chambers – although he points out that his management responsibilities as a solicitor were “far more demanding.” This is because Matrix has always invested in “a high-quality management structure, so the barrister management is really about setting the strategic direction of the business and ensuring democratic accountability, with day- to-day management handled by professional managers. I enjoyed my time as chair of the management committee – I had an overview of how the whole organisation works and helped to influence the agenda, but because of our
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