Handling ethical dilemmas at the Young Bar

Chair: Susan Grocott KC 

Susan undertook pupillage in London in Fountain Court where she was a pupil of Peter Goldsmith, the former attorney general and David Railton, and at 5 Pump Court with Michael Jennings. In 1988 Susan joined Queens Chambers in Manchester and established a mixed common law practice which evolved into a busy family practice particularly in money work and care proceedings.

Susan moved to the family team at Deans Court Chambers in 2002 from where she continued to build a formidable reputation as a leading family practitioner in both money and children work. Susan’s practice has always encompassed all aspects of family and related work including professional negligence claims in the family field, TOLATA, declaratory work and judicial review.

In 2008 Susan was appointed to the rank of King's Counsel. She was Leading Counsel for the Local Authority in Re S-B.

Susan has developed a reputation for a meticulous eye for detail and powerful straightforward advocacy. In silk Susan continues to undertake both money and care/private law children work and she increasingly undertakes advisory work for various public bodies on practice/policy issues.

Susan is a speaker in demand and gives seminars on a variety of topics both in chambers and to a number or organisations in the North and overseas.

Matthew Morrison

Matthew joined the Bar Council’s ethics committee in February 2021 and also serves on the anti-money laundering working group.

He has a broad commercial chancery practice, with a particular emphasis on civil fraud, company and partnership and insolvency litigation. Matthew has also appeared in a number of judicial review claims and other matters raising issues of public law.

Matthew is recommended by Legal 500 as a leading individual in civil fraud, commercial litigation, company and partnership, and offshore. He is ranked in Chambers & Partners for civil fraud, commercial dispute resolution, commercial chancery, company and offshore, and in Chambers & Partners Global for commercial, commercial chancery and offshore.

The directories describe him as "very responsive, with a voracious appetite for detail. A client friendly, superb cross-examiner with meticulous preparation" (Legal 500, 2023), and “extremely bright, very hard-working and exceptionally thorough” (Chambers & Partners 2023).

Martha Gray

Martha specialises in proceedings concerning children, many of which have an international dimension such as abduction, forced marriage and the placement of children abroad. Alongside this, Martha specialises in cases concerning the health and welfare of vulnerable adults in the Court of Protection.

Martha has been a member of the Bar Council ethics committee since 2019.  

Lachlan Stewart

Being a barrister is a rewarding but hugely demanding career – particularly for those at the Young Bar. It is my privilege as the Young Barristers Committee (YBC) Vice Chair to help support the Young Bar in these critical early years of practice.

My only experience of practice is in a Covid-19 world and I am acutely aware of the effects this has had on the Young Bar. I will assist the YBC in engaging with the difficulties this has raised whilst also hopefully harnessing the benefits.