Clark Chessis celebrates 50 years of clerking

Everyone at Deka Chambers sends huge congratulations to our Senior Clerk Clark Chessis as he celebrates 50 years as a barristers’ clerk.

Clark is summed up perfectly by the legal directories as “inimitable” and “one of the finest senior clerks in the country”. He is “always friendly, helpful and reliable, he makes dealing with the set a pleasure”. He is ”a class act and has been the bedrock of the chambers for a very long time now. Nothing is ever a problem and he is the perfect gentleman”.

On 23 July 1973 Clark began his long and illustrious career as a clerk at 1 Crown Office Row. He then moved downstairs in the same building to 1 Crown Office Row followed by a move to the Chambers of Peter Whiteman KC. In 1989 he moved to 6 Kings Bench Walk, then onto 1 Serjeants Inn, then 1 Chancery Lane and now, following the merger with 9 Gough Chambers, he continues as Senior Clerk at Deka Chambers.

Joint Head of Chambers Simon Readhead KC said of Clark:

On 23 July 2023, Clark Chessis celebrated 50 years as a barristers’ clerk. Of few people can it truly be said that they were born to do the job that they do. It was extremely prescient of his parents to give him the name that they did because Clark personifies everything that a barristers’ clerk should be.

Over the years, Clark has guided countless barristers through their careers from their first, nervous days in Chambers as a pupil to ultimately achieving distinction at the Bar or on the Bench. He has done so quietly and effectively but always professionally. Clark is proud to call himself “old school”. To him, kindness and courtesy are not just important but essential. Each year when the new editions of the legal directories are published, invariably Clark gets a special mention – both as a clerk and as a person. In his time, Clark has also trained and mentored a large number of other clerks with many of whom he remains in regular contact. All speak warmly of his friendliness and generosity and of his insistence that they should uphold the high standards of clerking that he has always set for himself.

Clients of Chambers to whom I have spoken also mention Clark’s approachability and straightforwardness. Regardless of the eminence or inexperience of the person with whom he is dealing, Clark treats everyone the same. He has the great gift, which is not given to all, of making people feel valued and of being part of a team. We are extremely proud to have him as our Senior Clerk at Deka Chambers as we celebrate what Clark, as a cricket lover, would no doubt describe as being “50 – Not Out”.

Congratulations Clark!