Matthew Wildish set to join Clerksroom as Director of Clerking

Clerksroom Chambers, the leading national barristers’ chambers, has recruited Matthew Wildish from 3 Paper Buildings (3PB) to a newly created position of Director of Clerking. Matthew joins the team at Clerksroom on June 1^st.

Matthew will work closely and add great strength to the Clerksroom senior management team, as explained by Head of Chambers Harry Hodgkin and Managing Director Stephen Ward. “The aim is to help build on the successes of Clerkrsoom to date and to develop the already fast-growing chambers further.”

Matthew is joining Clerksroom from 3 Paper Buildings (3PB) where he has been Chambers Director since 2016. He was a member of 3PB’s senior management team, assisting with the strategic direction of the chambers.

Matthew has 31 years clerking experience in the profession. Prior to 3PB he was Senior Clerk at 1 Gray’s Inn Square and before that Deputy Senior Clerk at Tanfield Chambers.

Clerksroom, which was founded in 2001 by two barristers and a clerk is now an award-winning national chambers and is one of the leading providers of barristers & mediators in England & Wales, conducting on average over 1400 final hearings each month, in addition to being one of the largest national providers of advice and drafting to solicitors, lawyers, businesses and members of the public.

Clerksroom is the only chambers providing civil, family & employment barristers for all courts and tribunals in England & Wales. It is able to provide clients with over 200 barristers including six eminent QCs and over 500 independent mediators- with the list of prominent names growing rapidly.

Clerksroom Mediation is one of the largest mediation providers in the UK and Clerksroom is also the largest provider of public access barristers through its unique Clerksroom Direct portal.

Clerksroom is particularly well known for expertise in six key areas of law: Commercial Law, Personal Injury Law, (Clinical Negligence Claims and inquest representation), Road Traffic Law (including fraud and credit hire), Employment Law, Family Law and Costs Law.

Its HQ is located in Taunton, where 33 clerks and support staff manage over 4,000 enquiries every month. Services are available 24/7/365.

Stephen Ward, MD of Clerksroom said, “We have built Clerksroom from a standing start 21 years ago into being one of the leading chambers in England and Wales. We believe our success lies in blending the traditional chambers model and the Bar’s unique independence with great client care and innovative use of IT. We are not held back by the traditional chambers structure so we can innovate and find new ways of providing greater access to justice.

We have invested in the best technology and bespoke software development so that our offer and low overheads enable us to compete for the best talent against traditional chambers in the London court scene who pay high rents for space in chambers. The pandemic has only exacerbated the trend towards agile working and caused others to worry about onerous chambers constitutions with high levels of liabilities. At Clerksroom, we operate under a simple SLA where a Barrister takes on none of the liabilities.

We now want to take Clerksroom to the next stage and to develop new products and services and we believe Matthew has the vision and drive to help us do that. He is incredibly well connected and respected. Clerksroom have spent the past two years searching for the right person to fill the new role. Director of Clerking is a newly created position for us, and we warmly welcome Matthew into our senior management team.”

Matthew Wildish said, “I have watched Clerksroom’s success and growth over the years and I believe it offers the way forward, providing barristers and mediation services to lay and professional clients 24/7/365 both through traditional solicitor routes but also directly to the public. Clerksroom has a reputation of being approachable and friendly with an emphasis on client care and using innovative ways to deliver traditional high quality legal services which is important to me.

I am excited to take up this role and to work with Harry and Stephen to look at new services we can develop and offer in the legal marketplace. I aim to help put Clerksroom even further on the map across the UK and internationally – as the go-to chambers for barristers and mediators to work and for solicitors and the general public to instruct.”