Closed provincial chambers in mix up over phone line

A PROVINCIAL set of chambers which closed last year continued to advertise its services on the Internet using a local telephone number which automatically diverted callers to its London twin.

Trafalgar Chambers has now promised to change the information on its Internet web site after it was pointed out that it was giving the misleading impression that its St Albans chambers was still open.

The Bar Council said it is investigating the situation after receiving an "enquiry" about the set.

And Chelmsford-based Tindall Chambers, which has just opened a new set of chambers in St Albans, has queried the set's status.

Senior clerk Paul Green said: "We would share the concern of the profession at large if it were established that another set of chambers was advertising its presence when in fact the premises it claims to occupy were vacant and had been for some time."

But Nigel Coyne, senior clerk at Trafalgar Chambers, said the London set's provincial twin had moved from St Albans to Luton last year and was correctly listed in The Bar Directory as a Luton set.

He said the set's Internet entry had remained unchanged due to an "oversight" on the part of the consultants who managed the Web site and they had been told to change it.

Mark Stobbs of the Bar council's professional standards committee confirmed he had received an "enquiry" about the set and would, in turn, be making his own enquiries.

Trafalgar Chambers publicly announced its launch on the Internet last August.