About St Ives

Chambers is named for Ivo of Kermartin (born 1253, died 1303), canonised by Pope Clement VI in 1347 and thus latterly Saint Ivo, or Ives; the patron saint of lawyers.

St Ives was originally considered one of Birmingham’s smaller sets. Founded in around 1965, Chambers was first housed on Temple Street, near the Birmingham Law Society Law Library, before moving to Printing House Street. At the time, Fountain Court, which had been built only a few years earlier in consultation with the Inns of Court, was widely accepted to be the traditional home for nearly all of the city’s chambers at that time.

In around 1987, St Ives took a small corner of the large expanse of Fountain Court and became housed at Number 9. Unlike most of the other sets, it retained its name and was not known simply by its door number.

Even at a time when sets of chambers were comparatively small by modern standards, St Ives was smaller still. By the time of the move to Fountain Court, chambers consisted of about a dozen members.

In the 1990s, Chambers began to grow. New premises were secured on Whittall Street, adjoining Fountain Court. These premises presented an opportunity for growth and expansion. The numbers in Chambers began to swell together with the reputation of members and the quality of representation they offered.

St Ives was underpinned by traditional values whilst ensuring members remained approachable and providing the highest quality legal advice.

The move to Whittall Street was finalised in July 1999. Those premises remain our current home in Birmingham to date. They have been developed and adjusted in the years that have passed to better meet the needs for modern practice. 

For decades, Chambers’ policy has generally been one of careful recruitment and organic growth. This policy has been successful in ensuring decades of measured and sustained growth.

Generally speaking, there have been two exceptions to this policy. Firstly, in 2006, several members joined from Number 3 Fountain Court. More recently, 11 members joined St Ives from KCH Garden Square in Nottingham in the autumn of 2024.

In early 2025, Chambers opened a second premises in Nottingham at Cubo, Standard Court. This expansion enhanced our ability to promote continued excellence and represent clients across the Circuit. We are proud to be the only set of Chambers on the Midland Circuit servicing clients across both the East and West of the Midland Circuit.