Keating Chambers CEO Declan Redmond is leaving the set to join corporate investigations and risk consulting firm Kroll in London.

Redmond is taking up an internationally-focused senior business development role that spans the Middle and Far East. The role will incorporate his construction, commercial and chancery litigation expertise, enabling him to work across his onshore and offshore network of contacts. He is due to start at Kroll later this year having spent more than eight years at Keating, during which time he transformed the set’s operations and works.

Redmond maintained Keating’s reputation as one of the UK’s pre-eminent construction, engineering and infrastructure sets, while steering its growth in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, particularly South Africa.

Redmond also managed the transition from long-serving head of chambers Paul Darling QC – who left the set after 32 years to join 39 Essex Chambers in 2017 – to Marcus Taverner QC, who himself stood down in 2020 to be replaced by current head Alexander Nissen QC.

Nissen said: “We wish Declan every success in this great opportunity outside the clerking world.”

Redmond’s role was complemented by the arrival of Alison Crosland as the set’s chief operations officer in June 2021, supporting the set’s clerking, business operations and marketing functions, as well as managing the set’s regulatory and insurance requirements.

Crosland, a former COO at Ofcom and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, has a strong background in business operations. Crosland’s input was instrumental in enhancing the set’s service to members and refreshing its approach to diversity and inclusion in a sector that is not always known for it.

Redmond’s exit caps a career which saw him join Wilberforce in 1982, rising to the role of senior clerk which he combined with the chief executive title in 2002. With Nick Luckman, he transformed the perception and business of Chancery sets among commercial law firms, being one of the first clerks to do so.

His move to Kroll is part of a trend that has seen all levels of clerks broaden their horizons for commercial opportunities across the wider legal sector where their skills are considered highly valuable. Senior clerks Ian Moyler and Brian Lee left Brick Court Chambers and 7 King’s Bench Walk for consultancy work at Grant Thornton. At the same time, Redmond’s predecessor at Keating, Nick Child, now leads a highly regarded team at Secretariat International.  

Redmond is not the only clerk to leave chambers to join Kroll. One Essex Court’s Jessica Barnes, a rising star of the clerking world, left to join the company in May.