Farewell to Gareth Jacques
St. Mary’s regretfully announces the departure of our esteemed Joint Head of Chambers, Gareth Jacques, who will be stepping down from his position and leaving St. Mary’s on 29 November 2024. Gareth is leaving St. Mary’s as he and his family have taken the decision to relocate and pursue new adventures in a different country.
Gareth joined St. Mary’s in 2013 and has been an integral part of Chambers’ success and growth in that time. Gareth has contributed to the development of 8 pupils in his role as a pupil-supervisor. He served on the Management Committee as Treasurer for a number of years before being elected as Joint Head of Chambers in June 2023 together with Claire Howell. Alongside Claire, Gareth has led a transformation of Chambers ethos and overseen St. Mary’s recent recruitment drive.
As a Financial Remedies specialist, Gareth has been consistently recognised in the legal directories as a leading senior junior in his field and has been the “go to” choice for many instructing solicitors and clients. He established our now annual Financial Remedies Conference which is a regular fixture in the calendar for many whom practice in Financial Remedy work in the Midlands.
During his time at St. Mary’s, Gareth was jointly responsible for establishing St. Mary’s ADR service which has proved hugely successful not just in the Midlands, but nationally. Gareth has acted as both an Arbitrator and Private FDR evaluator on numerous occasions and has driven our recruitment and association with a variety of skilled and experienced evaluators.
In a statement, Gareth Jacques expressed his thanks to all of those who had contributed to the success of his practice and St. Mary’s as a whole during the last 11-years. Gareth added “leaving St. Mary’s is bittersweet for me, as I have enjoyed working closely with many people over the years and cannot praise the team at St. Mary’s enough. A special mention must of course go to Claire Howell and Tim Smith who will continue to drive St. Mary’s forward in my absence, and I am sure that chambers will continue to excel in all that it does. As I leave for an exciting new adventure abroad for myself and my family, I will only look back fondly at my time at St. Mary’s.”
Fellow Joint Head of Chambers, Claire Howell added “I am excited for Gareth and his family as they embark on their next adventure. But it is bittersweet; I shall miss Gareth very much in Chambers. The last 18 months has seen lots of changes and positive progress at St Mary’s and Gareth has been integral to all of it. He has been a wonderful support as Joint Head of Chambers and I shall miss his quiet reassurance and friendship immeasurably”.
All at St. Mary’s extend their gratitude for the work which Gareth has done to help drive Chambers forward during his time with us and wish him and his family all the best for their future adventures abroad.
A further announcement on our succession plans will follow in due course.