23 Essex St leads way with new set manager

Highly regarded criminal set 23 Essex Street has secured the appointment of a new chambers manager. Sheona Taylor joins next Monday (26 April) from Lloyd's Council Secretariat and replaces David Burt, who retired last week.
The 49-tenant set has 10 silks, including Michael Wood QC and Christopher Kinch QC, who took silk this year, and is headed by Michael Lawson QC.
Taylor will be chambers manager not director because her role will not involve strategic development, which is handled by the management committee.
Lawson says: "A chief executive figure may well have a role to play in the future, but at the moment we have a natural way of evolving practices."
There has been a recent trend to appoint directors with management responsibility. Monckton Chambers intends to appoint a director to replace the departing Milly Ayliffe, who returns to Norton Rose as a senior assistant in the asset finance department at the end of July.
1 Crown Office Row, 39 Essex Street and 2 Temple Gardens are also in the hunt but suitable candidates are proving hard to find.
3/4 South Square has yet to decide whether it will be looking for a director to replace the departing senior clerk Jason Pithers.