Roger Smith QC, Head of Cornwall Street Chambers, is delighted to announce today that we have appointed our first Chief Executive, Nigel Ledger, who will be joining us on 27 September.  He moves from the national law firm HBJ Gateley Wareing LLP where he was Director of Operations and has previously worked in senior professional management roles for Wragge & Co LLP and Eversheds LLP.

Roger Smith QC said: "We are extremely fortunate to have secured a candidate with a rare combination of strong business acumen, people skills and working knowledge of the legal community.  Everyone working in the legal profession is facing challenges on so many fronts -
intense competition, renewed challenges to public funding together with pressures on fees necessitating fundamental changes in the way in which we practise and organise our business. Nigel is the ideal chief executive to lead us through that change."

Nigel Ledger said: "This is a challenging time for the Bar but it is also a time of opportunity.  Cornwall Street impressed me with its commitment to the Midlands legal market, its recognition of the need to embrace challenge and change and its ambition to make the most of
the future. I am looking forward to helping them maximise their position and potential in the market."

Mike Harris, Cornwall Street's long-serving clerk of 28 years, the senior clerk for 18 of those years, retired at the end of June.  One of his major achievements was to move the set from its Fountain Court base into its new home at the centre of the Birmingham legal community.