Supplier Series : St Philips Chambers – The Barristers’ Den Shielding Corporate Bullies

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Polished marble, dirty hands. St Philips Chambers in Birmingham sells itself as a fortress of justice – impartial, refined, untouchable. Scratch the polish and you find a barristers’ den soaked in hypocrisy, self-preservation, and sleaze. And right there in the muck sits Cummins Inc., one of their prized corporate clients.

This isn’t speculation. Wendy Miller KC – one of St Philips’ heavy hitters – defended Cummins in my Employment Tribunal case. A disabled ex-employee taking on a multinational for its alleged failure to make reasonable adjustments. IBS, depression, anxiety, and a company that wouldn’t bend. Miller’s job? Tear it down with procedural knives. She did. Cummins won. The case is now under appeal.

That’s not advocacy; that’s a supplier relationship. Cummins pays, St Philips delivers, and the vulnerable get crushed.

The Cummins Tie-In: Legal Suppliers on Speed Dial

St Philips isn’t just another set of wigs-for-hire. They’re on Cummins’ call sheet – legal muscle on demand. Miller’s own profile brags of representing “respondents” in employment disputes. Translation: she sides with the bosses.

Her tribunal tactics mirrored Cummins’ entire culture – weaponising process, ignoring the human cost. It’s not law as justice; it’s law as containment. The same barrister now represents Cepac Ltd in a separate discrimination claim I filed after they allegedly snooped my medical files mentioning Cummins. Coincidence? Spare me.

This is how the ecosystem works. Chambers like St Philips keep corporate clients clean while the bodies pile up under confidentiality orders.

Echoes of Misogyny: The Charlotte Proudman Debacle

Zoom out and you see the internal fractures too. Charlotte Proudman – feminist barrister, family-law specialist – called out a “boys’ club” mentality in the judiciary after a ruling she said downplayed domestic abuse. The Bar Standards Board went for her throat: five misconduct charges for “eroding public trust”.

It was a witch-hunt. The tribunal bled months before tossing every charge in December 2024. Proudman blasted the BSB as “unfit for purpose” and called for resignations. She was right. The case exposed what the profession would rather hide – a culture that punishes the outspoken while rewarding compliance.

St Philips backed her on paper, but the damage lingered. A chambers preaching expertise in equality and family law now carrying the stain of institutional sexism.

Tangled Affairs: The Iqbal Mohammed Mess

Then came the soap opera. Iqbal Mohammed – commercial barrister, St Philips nameplate – dragged into a nightmare by his ex, lawyer Anisah Ahmed. A fake rape claim, a staged stabbing, a blackmail campaign so twisted it made tabloid front pages.

Mohammed was innocent. Ahmed went to prison for fraud and perverting justice, her “Fatal Attraction” story now a Netflix special. Still, the scandal scorched the brand. When your barristers become true-crime material, professionalism turns farce.

St Philips didn’t flinch. They kept him on. The public saw the headlines, not the verdict. It’s always the same lesson – truth is slower than gossip, and institutions rarely clean house.

Patterns of Power: Wendy Miller KC and the Vulnerable Under Fire

Miller’s CV reads like a list of dark triumphs. Historic rape defences. Child-cruelty acquittals. A 16-year-old cleared of raping a four-year-old. A headteacher acquitted on 13 counts of abuse against deaf pupils. Technically brilliant. Morally grey.

Those same tactics – dismantle the weak, reframe the narrative – play beautifully for corporate clients. In my case, Miller ignored the medical evidence, turned depression into inconvenience, and turned procedural timing into victory. Cummins got its shield; St Philips got its fee.

That’s the quiet rot: skill without conscience, justice as performance art.

A Cog in the Corporate Machine

St Philips Chambers isn’t evil; it’s ordinary – and that’s the danger. They serve whoever pays, fitting neatly into the corporate defence network that keeps power insulated and accountability rare. Cummins is just one of many beneficiaries.

Add it up – Proudman’s feminist fight, Mohammed’s scandal, Miller’s corporate crusades – and you see a chambers built on contradiction. They talk fairness and integrity while defending companies that crush the same ideals.

St Philips isn’t a fortress of justice. It’s a rent-a-shield for those who can afford protection from consequence. The law’s supposed to level the field; here it tilts it further.

Fuck complacency. Demand better.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

All cases involve allegations. Outcomes drawn from public sources. No implication of guilt or impropriety beyond reported facts.

Sources

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