5RB was founded by the distinguished jury advocate, Sir Valentine Holmes KC. Sir Valentine practised up until 1956 and enjoyed success in a number of famous libel trials which laid the foundations for what is now one of our main areas of practice, defamation law.
Since the time of Sir Valentine Holmes KC, many celebrated and notable lawyers have been members of Chambers and have moved on to high judicial office. Lord Justice Warby, Mr Justice Nicklin, Sir Charles Gray and Sir Michael Tugendhat are the most recent examples.
We moved from The Temple to 10 South Square, Gray’s Inn in 1972. Membership of 5RB significantly increased, reflecting the growing demand in our fields of practice that precipitated a move in early 1994 to accommodation within the Inn at 5 Raymond Buildings, at which time we formally adopted the name 5RB.
In January 2014 5RB moved to 5 Gray’s Inn Square. This relocation offers 5RB more space and room to grow, which included welcoming seven members of One Brick Court in 2019 following its closure.
Today, 5RB continues to welcome new talent to chambers and enjoys a reputation as one of the pre-eminent chambers in media and communications law.