The U.K.’s Hottest Junior Barristers 2016
Welcome to our latest list, featuring Britain’s hottest junior barristers under 5 years of call! Yes, this is the new crop, the fresh meat, the topical tottie. They are the bright young things who arrived at your chambers only recently, and have been causing lots of giggling and gossip ever since. If they make your heart flutter every time you pass them in chambers or spy them traversing the Inns, it’s likely they’ve found their way here.
Unlike our first list, most of the fine specimens you see below were sent to us— nominated by friends, colleagues and admirers who know a hottie when they see one. The competition was stiff. Hard choices were made. We received many more suggestions than we were able to offer a place, so rest assured this is the crème de la crème.
If you nominated and don’t see your candidate here, don’t despair. They may not have fit the five years of call criteria, or we may be saving them for another list. Or, regrettably, they may have been rather fug. (Or clearly conducted a self-promotion campaign... you would be surprised at some of the emails we receive.)
So here they are, the Class of 2016. Enjoy! As always, feel free to send us nominations for future lists at barristerhotties [at] gmail.com.
And be sure to follow the Barrister Hottie Experts on Twitter and Facebook for more juvenile gossip and hotness!
1) Harriet Ter-Berg (Hardwick 2012)
Our first thought when we heard about Harriet was, who *is* this goddess? And how does she even exist? Harriet was nominated by two people who had clearly not colluded, and while we were delighted to feature such a beauty, we couldn’t help but feel envy rising from the depths. With her Bambie eyes, stunning cheekbones and supermodel bod (yes, we’ve seen her Facebook and refrained from posting the most Victoria Secret-worthy bikini pic), Harriet seems to have drawn a genetic royal flush. What must it be like, every time you post a picture of yourself on FB, to have people crowd around commenting, “OMG YOU ARE JUST SOOOO BEAUTIFUL”. Alas, we will never know. (And these aren’t painstakingly posed selfies we’re talking about. These are, like, candids.)
And of course, she’s not just gorgeous, but she’s super nice. *And* smart—she has a first in Law from Magdalen College, Oxford (Amal, with her second from St. Hugh’s is looking a bit shabby in comparison). According to Harriet’s bio, she even managed to win an award for best performance in the university in Contract, Tort, Land and Trusts in her final exams. WTH!?!? Just twist the knife a little more why don’t you. For all the men licking their chops, don’t get excited—Harriet has a handsome, stylish, broad-shouldered solicitor bf. Did you really expect her to be single? Come on now.
2) Claudia Renton (Essex Court Chambers 2011)
It just isn’t fair. But who said anything about fair? Just because Claudia Renton was blessed with beautiful, aristocratic looks and a brilliant (and therefore un-aristocratic) brain doesn’t mean that she doesn’t work damn hard (gliding like a swan while paddling furiously below?), making the rest of us aspiring ‘total package women’ want to give up.
With her glossy but cool and oh-so-sophisticated style and what we imagine is a low, plummy voice, Oxford-educated (a first in history of course) Claudia puts her manic, up-talking American Ivy League equivalents to shame. For you don’t find many Harvard lawyers publishing award-winning books like Those Wild Wyndhams, Claudia’s fantastically reviewed historical biography of three Victorian sisters who served as fragrant literary and artistic muses during the last gasps of the nineteenth century. We hear from a special source that Claudia is very nice, good fun and recently married. (And we appreciate her masterful eyeliner game.) We guess you can have it all.
3) Abimbola Johnson (25 Bedford Row 2011)
Criminal barrister Abimbola caught our eye for many reasons. There’s her lovely smile and playful eyes. And she passes the ‘multiple photo test’ — her Twitter profile pic is fetching, as is her Legal 500 portrait. We also like this British-Nigerian’s approach to life — with a formidable education from Haberdashers’ Aske’s and a degree in law from Oxford, she could have gone on to rake in the big bucks in one way or another. Instead, she’s funded by Legal Aid and spends her working life sorting out problems with drugs and public disorder amongst the young and vulnerable. The rest of us, upon spotting hoodie-wearing teens, scream YOUTHS! and run to hide in Waitrose. Abimbola, thankfully, is not subject to such poltroonery. Now, if you need us, we’ll be by the Essentials Mini Rosemary and Sea Salt Focaccia.
4) Hannah Evans (23 Essex Street 2011)
On studying Hannah’s chambers page like the true stalkers that we are, we were initially struck by the VERY PRACTICAL nature of the her legal interests, following her VERY PRACTICAL rather than time-wasting (why did we study art history??) degree in Jurisprudence at Oxford. What man wouldn’t want to share a bottle of bubbly with Hannah and whisper sweet nothings about the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, privately instructed road traffic cases (oh baby) and the guidance she receives from fascinating bodies such as the General Dental Council (ouch). Did we mention that Hannah trained as a panel secretary for the Nursing and Midwifery Council? How odd, but again VERY PRACTICAL.
In case you think Hannah is all head and no heart, fear not. Hannah first made her mark on the Bar in 2014, with a speech she gave at some earnest legal event about the financial difficulties many young criminal barristers face. There she stood, an impassioned, bespectacled young woman, hair slightly dishevelled and an ardent look in her eye. Her tale of humble comp origins and struggle to pay the rent on a criminal barrister’s salary won hearts right and left.
About a month later, she appeared again at a Legal Aid rally and took to the podium in front of Westminster (you can see a video of her speech here). How many of us could look quite so pretty, standing in the cold on a grey, dreary day, brows knitted, inveighing against injustice? Not all of us can pull off Suffragette chic, but as you can see below, it really suits Hannah. We truly hope criminal barristers like Hannah get all the funding they need, though we also hope it doesn’t stop her from making speech-giving look so good.
5) Lily Mottahedan (1 Hare Court 2011)
Lily was nominated by no fewer than three people, so we figure there must be something about her. Her chambers pic apparently does not do her justice (though we think it looks pretty darn lovely), which is why her fans felt compelled to attach numerous FB snaps. In some, the diminutive and glamorously made-up minx twirls around at a black tie event with her hunky Slovakian husband (”Annoyingly he’s quite nice,” says one of her male admirers). In others, she gazes intelligently at the camera with her large, long-lashed eyes as she brushes back a glossy lock of jet black hair.
Hailed as the ‘Persian Amal’ for being being beautiful as well as fiercely intelligent, Lily, according to one anonymous admirer “brings much needed cosmopolitanism and spice to the bar: she was born in the US, went to the French Lycee in London, and speaks fluent Persian and French. To top it off, she is a Cordon Bleu trained chef”. Enough said, we think.
1) Ed Granger (Maitland 2013)
Now that Nick Wilkinson is an old married man, we’ve been looking for someone to take up his “I’m so handsome I’m basically a cartoon” mantle. Step forward Ed ‘Power’ Granger. We kid you not. His witty parents really did have the audacity to endow their son with what can only be read as a Nietzschean will to power. We suspect that his name may have led to some gentle teasing back in the day when the Power Rangers weren’t quite as cool as they are now. Yes, they are making a comeback. A big comeback. And we’d quite like to see this “total smoking dishypants dreamboat superhunk” (in the words of one drooling fan) strip off his barristers gown to reveal his hopefully well-honed bod tightly sheathed in a skin-tight spandex jumpsuit in pink or perhaps lavender.
The Power Grangers: which colour would look best on Ed?
Ed was nominated by several stalkers/fans, one of whom let it slip that he lives in a sort of male barrister harem (’a legal hotbed’) in leafy West Hampstead. So let’s just continue this Power Ranger fantasy a bit longer and imagine James Goodwin (Wilberforce Chambers) and Paul Livingston (Outer Temple Chambers) leaping around jumpsuits as well... It’s no wonder that beautiful Samantha Godec (33 Bedford Row) decided to get in on the action. Yes, that means one of these studs is taken. Boo hoo.
2) Chris de Beneducci (4 New Square 2015)
With his thuggish, laughing eyes, cheeky smile and preppy good looks, it’s hard not to feel smitten by Chris de Beneducci. He looks like the All-American high school quarterback — we wish we were pom-pom-waving cheerleaders who could backflip into his arms, though that might go badly wrong. But of course, he’s British, so instead of playing football, he plays rugby. (Why don’t you people have cheerleaders for that? Such an oversight.) We hear from a reliable source that he has a “classic rugby player build but very charming rather than oafish”. Phew! Yes, we know Chris is just a pupil, and usually we steer clear of such youngsters, lest hottie notoriety hit them in the wrong time in their careers. But we thought Chris looks like a tough guy. He can probably handle it!
3) Jamie Susskind (Littleton 2013)
What is it like to be the chosen one? The Octavius of your age? Sure, many of us were the cleverest at school. We may have even developed an inflated sense of our own destiny. But did people, strangers, tell you time and time again throughout your life that you were meant for greatness? That, ladies and gentlemen, is the cross Jamie Susskind must bear.
To understand, we need to back up a little bit. Jamie arrived in our inbox from a source who described him as a “dark and hideously smooth” young man who has “achieved just about everything possible under the sun.” And it’s true: The scion of a legal dynasty (with a smokin hot Balliol-based economist brother) Jamie was at one time ranked the top school-level debater in the world (he started young, you see) and graduated first in his year at Oxford with a slew of prizes to his name. We looked him up, and his face and name (which is very handsome, see above) looked familiar. And then one of your Hottie Experts realised she had noticed Jamie before, at the Oxford Union in 2009. (Yes, even your Hottie Experts have degrees from there.)
The debate was an annual one on the topic “This House has no faith in Her Majesty’s Government” and, as per tradition, politicians from both parties parachuted in to make their case. Jamie, who was a student at the time, opened for the opposition. The audience, I think, was struck by his star quality, and the politicians from both sides of the aisle certainly were — they instantly crushed on him couldn’t stop praising his speech. One of them even said he was a future prime minister. The fact that I can remember this even now says something about Jamie’s charisma. So yeah. He’s cute, and by all accounts a nice person, despite everyone tripping over themselves to tell him how great he is. And that’s quite an accomplishment in itself. Plus he look pretty good in this pic that’s been sent to us, no?
4) Ifeanyi Odogwu (Garden Court 2011)
We’re giving you Iffy’s barrister headshot, but we don’t think it’s his best pic (he looks way too nice, right?). So here for you’re delectation are a selection of corroborating images to show that, yes, he is a handsome chap. (Did we mention he’s also tall?)
Just look at those muscular arms and well-defined pecs. We like a man who takes the time to enhance his God-given looks, even if it does mean that you have to fight them for the moisturizer and perfume. (We’re not saying that Iffy is metrosexual, of course. But many of you are these days.) Also, he looks pretty cool in his wig, which is no mean feat.
By the way, does anyone else think that Iffy bares a passing resemblance to Reggie Bush. What, you don’t know who that is? C’mon, he’s that smoking hot American football running back who, incidentally, is famous for being one of Kim Kardashians ex-boyfriends. (And no, not the one from the sex tape... that was Ray J, duh.) Like Iffy, Reggie has a the beaming, gentle smile of a good guy with the body of a very bad boy which I think we can all say is very good combination.
Reggie Bush. A bit like Iffy but, let’s face it, slightly more hot.
5) James Hughes (St. John’s 2011)
James Hughes nearly didn’t make the final cut because he looks so damn constipated in his chambers pic. Or maybe he has a bit of sex face here. Either way, the pic isn’t totally working for him and we suggest he try out another expression. How ‘bout cracking an itsy bitsy smile? We know you want to look serious and bad ass and manly and powerful but show us a little twinkle please.
We can tell that James has a good chiseled jaw, thick hair, periwinkle eyes, adorably oversized ears, a rosy complexion and nice broad shoulders (slightly enhanced by shoulder pads?). One of our most reliable sources tell us he is over 6′3′‘ so if it really is true that every inch of height makes a man 10% more attractive, James must be a total dream boat in the flesh. We like that he took the time to get cultured by studying French and Spanish. And we also appreciate that, in the words of his chambers page, he 'will happily work to tight deadlines’. Does anyone else think that sounds a bit naughty? Probably not.
These two lookers have just missed our arbitrary year of call cut-off, but we had to feature them anyway, because they’re so darn sexy.
Suzanne Staunton (Guildhall 2010)
You may recall that we featured Suzanne back in November 2014, when we described her as “bubbly and sophisticated, with a mischievous twinkle and a heart of gold”. Nothing has changed since then — if anything, Suze has got prettier and prettier. Her admirers describe her as having a hearty, sonorous (loud) laugh and a model-like physique that she maintains with infuriatingly little exercise or dieting. She has an amazing sense of style, and rules the ski slopes every winter, showing off her pert derrière (yes, we’re going Daily Mail-style here) in brightly-hued salopettes. I defy anyone to look good in ski trousers, and yet Suze does it. In addition to catching the eye of every man at après, Suze brings joy into the life of all around her. That, in our opinion, is the mark of a true hottie.
Paul Clark (Garden Court 2010)
Dashing Paul has been on our radar for a long time. He almost made the first Hot Male Barrister list back in 2013, and featured in our 2014 compilation. And recently we had the most lovely email commending him to us again. “Picture this,” his nominator writes, “A feisty dark 6'5 Northerner with a baritone voice to die for (yes, he sings and plays cello too). Even more impressive, Paul bucks the trend for everything you'd expect of a barrister's 'pedigree', in the best sense. He works like an absolute animal, and most of it is entirely thankless.” What can we say? Paul will certainly be a catch for some lucky lady, and we hear that he is single.
