No5 Chambers mourns death of Ralph Lewis QC

7 July 2010 | By Katy Dowell

Lewis was voted in as head of No5 Chambers in February 2007. During his time at the helm the set grew by more than a third.

Paul Bleasdale QC, acting head of chambers, said: “Ralph was a valued colleague and friend and his death is a great loss not just to No5 but to the legal professional as a whole.

“The bar has lost a formidable advocate and chambers has lost a tremendous figurehead. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.” 

Lewis most recently appeared in the Toxic Sofas group litigation, having been instructed by Russell Jones & Walker partner Richard Langton. He won a compensation package from Argos, Land of Leather and Walmsleys for 1,500 people who suffered burns after being sold leather sofas containing a highly sensitising chemical called DMF (Dimethyl Fumarate).

Lewis, a personal injury and clinical negligence specialist, was call to the bar in 1978 and took silk in 1999.

Last month No5 was shortlisted for The Lawyer’s Chambers of the Year award, an achievement, the set said, Lewis was “immensely proud of” given it was an acknowledgement of the set’s national reach from its offices in Birmingham, London and Bristol.