About
Charles Cooper
is a Traditional Chancery Barrister specialising in trusts, tax, wills and estates, both contentious and advisory. His experience includes trusts and estates with overseas assets, offshore trusts, personal injury trusts to preserve entitlement to state benefits, charitable trusts, removal of executors and trustees, mental capacity and related disputes, and drafting Wills, Deeds of Variation and lifetime trust Deeds and documents. He brings a wealth of knowledge from his medical background and previous practice as a Solicitor, and trained with the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) accredited Society of Mediators as a Civil/Commercial Mediator.
Barrister
A Statute of Parliament of 1532 first recognised Barristers as being learned in the law, although the governing minutes of Lincoln’s Inn (one of the four Inns of Court in London) go back continuously to 1422 and it is clear that the Inn had already been in existence for some time before that.
Their particular skill is advocacy in the Higher Courts, and their advice is based not only on their knowledge of the law but also on their knowledge and experience of those arguments likely to succeed (and those unlikely to succeed) in Court.
In the 18th Century, Barristers accepted a rule that they would no longer be retained directly by a client but only accept instructions from an attorney (from the 19th Century, ‘Solicitor’). In 2004, however, the Public Access Scheme (sometimes called ‘Direct Access’) was set up to allow clients, once again, to instruct Barristers direct without the need to go through a Solicitor, to save costs, though in practice Barristers often advise their clients to instruct a Solicitor as well.
Mediator
Recognised in both ancient Greece and Rome, and noted in Justinian’s Digest of 530-533AD, a third party Mediator uses specialised communication and negotiation techniques to resolve conflict, and may be accredited by organisations such as the Society of Mediators, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, or Civil Mediation Council which prescribe internationally recognised standards of training and qualification.
Barrister’s Clerk
a non-lawyer providing essential administrative and business support to a Barrister, and liaising with clients when the Barrister is otherwise unable to (often because they are in Court).
Charles Cooper | Barrister 