Since chambers was formed in 1996, we have grown to 25 members .

Our more experienced practitioners have appeared in cases arising out of the miners strike of 1984-5, the struggle by print-workers to save their jobs in the dispute with union-busting employer Eddie Shah in Warrington in the 1980s and many other cases involving the struggle for workers' rights as well as activities carried out by environmental campaigners.

In more recent times our practitioners have appeared in cases involving animal rights campaigns, cases arising out of the disturbances in Oldham and Burnley in 2001, have developed one of the leading teams of specialist housing law practitioners outside of London, are considered to be one of the leading specialist Chambers in immigration law and have built a strong reputation for public law, prison law, inquests, actions against the police and expertise in employment and discrimination work.

Since our inception we have set our "stall out to do human rights work" (Chambers & Partners 2006, p1575) and throughout the past 13 years, we have advanced the application of human rights law in the regions taking cases to the House of Lords and beyond to the European Court of Human Rights.

Our solicitors say they value us for our “willingness to fight cases”, “commitment to [our] client group” and our “good rapport between counsel and solicitors” ; our overarching motivation is to uphold people’s rights through justice.

The head of chambers, Ian Macdonald QC, is also a member of Garden Court Chambers in London and was for many years one of its two joint heads of chambers. All members are involved in making the important decisions that affect the running of chambers. Decisions are made through the chambers meeting and planning committee and each of the interest groups (crime, immigration, housing and employment) hold regular meetings to discuss issues relevant to their specialisations.