About us

Thames Chambers is the practice name of Mr Mohammad Jahirul Islam, a barrister called to the Bar in 2008 and in full-time practice since. The work is deliberately narrow: family law and immigration law, and nothing else. Cases in those two fields are taken from the first letter of instruction through to the final order.

Because the practice is small, the barrister who reads your papers is the barrister who stands up in court. There is no re-allocation of a brief at short notice, no clerk deciding who is available on the morning of a hearing, and no gap between the person who advised you and the person who represents you.

Instructions come from two directions. Solicitors instruct in the ordinary way for hearings, advice and drafting. Members of the public instruct directly under the Public Access (direct access) scheme, without needing to engage a solicitor first.

Mr Islam is also authorised to conduct litigation, which means that on a direct access case he can carry out the steps a solicitor would normally handle — filing, service, correspondence with the other side and the court — rather than leaving those to the client.

Preparation is done in writing before the hearing. A skeleton argument or position statement is filed in advance so that the court has the argument on paper, and negotiations are attempted first wherever a proper agreement is available, because a settled case is nearly always cheaper and faster than a contested one.

Where a case must be fought, it is fought on the documents and on the authorities. Fees are fixed and agreed in writing before the work begins, so the cost of each stage is known in advance.

Mr Mohammad Jahirul Islam is regulated by the Bar Standards Board and holds professional indemnity insurance through the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund. His entry can be checked on the Barristers' Register maintained by the Bar Standards Board.