Hires see No5 become first to exceed 200 members

No5 ;Chambers ;has become the first set to pass the 200-member mark after adding five new recruits to its London office.

The new hires are part of a plan to ramp up its capabilities across all areas, including arbitration, commercial, planning and regulatory.

Practice director Tony McDaid said No5's recent hires are not the end, as the set is looking to bring senior barristers and silks into its planning group, which saw 45 per cent growth last year.

The first of the five hires saw the set poach international arbitration specialists David Holloway and Carole Murray ;from ;Tanfield Chambers to expand its global capabilities.

Stuart Cakebread of 3 Paper Buildings, who was called in 1978, will ramp up the commercial and planning practice, while crime and personal injury sole practitioner Mamta Gupta and regulatory specialist Philip Williams will increase No5's criminal offering.