Nailed on

Name: Alex Barros-Curtis

Seat: Cardiff West

Legal clout: Trained and worked at Allen & Overy back in the day, and now the Labour Party’s general counsel.

Chances: Cardiff is as red as they come and Barros-Curtis, who acted as head of legal for the leadership campaign of Keir Starmer (and those of Owen Smith and Andy Burnham) will surely soon be an MP.

Name: Jake Richards

Seat: Rother Valley

Legal clout: Barrister specialising in civil litigation, public law and family law at Deka Chambers.

Chances: Rother Valley is prime Red Wall territory. It went Conservative for the first and only time in its history in 2019; a return to Labour looks all but certain.

Name: Jon Pearce

Seat: High Peak

Legal clout: Employment lawyer, formerly a partner at Hempsons and now a consultant at Bates Wells.

Chances: Good. With a tiny majority, this seat looks certain to return to Labour after being lost in 2019.

Name: Abtisam Mohamed

Seat: Sheffield Central

Legal clout: Solicitor at Sheffield immigration firm Crater Law

Chances: A safe Labour seat, Mohamed will be celebrating come 5 July.

Looking likely

Name: Catherine Atkinson

Seat: Derby North

Legal clout: Barrister at Deka Chambers

Chances: A seat that has swung between parties over the years and looks likely change hands again this time. One of a duo of Deka Chambers barristers that look likely to win for Labour, Atkinson will be hoping it’s third time lucky, having failed to win Erewash in both 2017 and 2019.

Name: Jayne Kirkham

Seat: Truro & Falmouth

Legal clout: Former partner at trade union firm OH Parsons, and also once of Bond Pearce.

Chances: Quite a marginal seat that Kirkham fought and lost in 2017. She ought to have better luck this time.

Name: Lucy Rigby

Seat: Northampton North

Legal clout: Competition partner at Hausfeld, former trainee and associate at Slaughter and May.

Chances: This seat, currently held by barrister Michael Ellis (briefly Attorney General under Liz Truss), is eminently winnable.

Name: Warinder Juss

Seat: Wolverhampton West

Legal clout: Solicitor at Thompsons in Birmingham

Chances: A re-established seat that was last contested in 1950, Juss is the favourite here.

Fighting the marginals

Name: James Wallace

Seat: Dumfries & Galloway

Legal clout: He has since retrained as a chartered financial planner but Wallace qualified at Baker McKenzie and also worked at Allen & Overy

Chances: An interesting three-way marginal seat that has been held by Labour, then the SNP, then the Conservatives, since its creation in 2005. The Labour vote share here collapsed in 2019 but polls suggest that it could be very, very tight between all three parties this time. One to watch.

Name: Helen Dallimore

Seat: Exmouth and Exeter East

Legal clout: Employment solicitor, once of Linklaters, Clifford Chance and Foot Anstey but now out of law and a workplace consultant.

Chances: A new seat made up of the old East Devon constituency (Tory) and parts of Exeter (Labour) and Central Devon (Tory). A hard one to call but Dallimore will surely be in with a chance.

Name: Sarah Sackman

Seat: Finchley & Golders Green

Legal clout: Public law barrister at Matrix Chambers

Chances: Sackman stood here in 2015, but sat out the last two votes. Her chances this time round look good with Tory incumbent Mike Freer stepping down. She’ll be up instead against fellow barrister Alex Deane.

Name: Henry Tufnell

Seat: Mid & South Pembrokeshire

Legal clout: Briefly a barrister at 1 Crown Office Row, gaining tenancy there and staying at the Bar for a couple of years.

Chances: This is a newly-created seat made up of parts of two Conservative-held ones, but it seems likely that Tufnell will triumph.

Name: Kevin Bonavia

Seat: Stevenage

Legal clout: Litigator at Edwards Duthie Shamash who specialises in election and media law. Has acted for victims of the newspaper phone-hacking scandal including  Paul Gascoigne.

Chances: Stevenage was Labour in the Blair-Brown years and could well swing back now.

Will need a big swing

Name: Linsey Farnworth

Seat: Amber Valley

Legal clout: A crown prosecutor for 20 years.

Chances: The Conservatives have a chunky majority here but Labour is projected to take the Midlands seat on current polling.

Name: Tony Vaughan

Seat: Folkestone and Hythe

Legal clout: Human rights barrister at Doughty Street Chambers

Chances: If Reform squeeze the Conservatives here it might be possible for Vaughan to overturn Damian Collins’ majority of over 21,000.

Name: Sarah Russell

Seat: Congleton

Legal clout: Solicitor at the Equality and Employment Law Centre in Congleton

Chances: Fiona Bruce (no not that one) is the Conservative incumbent here; this is another where Labour could overturn a big majority if the polls don’t narrow.

Name: Alex McIntyre

Seat: Gloucester

Legal clout: Associate at DAC Beachcroft who acts mainly for the NHS.

Chances: Gloucester is another seat where the Tories have a majority of over 10,000 but on current trends might well turn red.

Name: Douglas McAllister

Seat: West Dunbartonshire

Legal clout: Consultant for Moir and Sweeney Litigation in Glasgow

Chances: This was a Labour seat for 65 years until the SNP took it in 2015. That party has since built up a sizable majority but its crumbling fortunes in Scotland mean McAllister now has a chance.

Name: Margaret Pinder

Seat: Beverley & Holderness

Legal clout: Solicitor and former head of market intelligence at Hill Dickinson

Chances: This seat has only ever been Conservative but Labour are currently projected to take it.

 

Long shots

Name: Alex Diner

Seat: Harwich & North Essex

Legal clout: Now a housing researcher but until 2022 a solicitor at Bhatt Murphy, working primarily on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry on behalf of the bereaved and survivors.

Chances: It’s true that Labour is currently projected to take this seat, but with Sir Bernard Jenkin commanding a majority of over 20,000, it would be have to be a huge swing.

Name: Dave Rowntree

Seat: Mid Sussex

Legal clout: The former Blur drummer was also a solicitor at Kingsley Napley.

Chances: Labour came third here in 2019, and the Tories beat the Lib Dems by over 18,000 votes. Yet the incumbent MP is stepping down and Rowntree has name recognition. It would be a big turnaround, but it’s not impossible.

Name: Stuart Brady

Seat: Reigate

Legal clout: Barrister at Farrar’s Building. The ex-Saracens rugby player stood in Loughborough in 2019.

Chances: This seat has only ever been Conservative but current polling suggests Labour could just pinch it if they had a very good day.

Name: Rachel Taylor

Seat: North Warwickshire & Bedworth

Legal clout: Consultant at small Warwickshire firm Evans Derry

Chances: Once again, Labour could be in with a shout given current polling, but there’s a big majority to overcome here nonetheless.

Don’t quit the day job

Name: Sophia Adams Bhatti

Seat: St Albans

Legal clout: Not a lawyer, but head of purpose and impact at Simmons & Simmons

Chances: One of the Lib Dem gains in the last election, Sophia Adams Bhatti won’t expect to win but will hope to build back from Labour’s lowest ever vote share in 2019 (8.7 per cent). Second place might even be achievable.

Name: Jo Howard

Seat: Christchurch

Legal clout: Senior associate in the regulatory team at Capsticks, formerly of Bates Wells.

Chances: Conservative barrister Sir Christopher Chope has held this seat since 1997, and would likely hold it even in the event of the most almighty Labour landslide.

Name: Jackie Jones

Seat: Ceredigion Preseli

Legal clout: Barrister who has taught law at Cardiff University and at the University of the West of England, where she is Professor of Feminist Legal Studies.

Chances: This is a new seat in a part of the world where Plaid Cymru is traditionally strong and would expect to win.

Name: Alex Just

Seat: Farnham & Bordon

Legal clout: Former barrister at Old Square Chambers, from 2013-17

Chances: This South East seat is not typical Labour territory. Just will be up against another lawyer in the Lib Dem candidate (see next week) who may well beat him.

Labour lawyers already in Parliament

Seat Name Role Majority Elected
Birmingham Ladywood Shabana Mahmood Barrister 28,582 2010
Bolton South East Yasmin Qureshi Barrister 7,598 2010
Bristol East Kerry McCarthy Solicitor 10,794 2005
Bristol North West Darren Jones Solicitor 5,692 2017
Camberwell & Peckham Harriet Harman Solicitor Standing down 1982
Cardiff Central Jo Stevens Solicitor 17,179 2015
Dover & Deal Natalie Elphicke Solicitor Standing down 2019
Ellesmere Port & Neston Justin Madders Solicitor 8,764 2015
Enfield Southgate Bambos Charalambous Solicitor 4,450 2017
Garston & Halewood Maria Eagle Solicitor 31,624 1997
Hammersmith & Chiswick Andy Slaughter Barrister 17,847 2005
Holborn & St Pancras Sir Keir Starmer KC Barrister 27,763 2015
Hull East Karl Turner Solicitor 1,239 2010
Islington South & Finsbury Emily Thornberry Barrister 17,328 2005
Hull North Diana Johnson Barrister 7,593 2005
Leeds East Richard Burgon Solicitor 5,531 2015
Lewisham West & Penge Ellie Reeves Barrister 21,543 2017
Manchester Gorton Afzal Khan Solicitor 30,339 2017
Middlesbrough Andy McDonald Solicitor 8,390 2012
Newcastle North Catherine McKinnell Solicitor 5,765 2010
Salford & Eccles Rebecca Long-Bailey Solicitor 16,327 2015
Stalybridge & Hyde Jonathan Reynolds Solicitor 2,946 2010
Torfaen Nick Thomas-Symonds Barrister 3,742 2015
Tottenham David Lammy Barrister 30,175 2000
Walsall South Valerie Vaz Solicitor 3,456 2010

Coming next: The Liberal Democrat lawyers vying for your vote.

Know of any other lawyer candidates? Email us.