Our People

Bio

Helen Davies KC is a practising barrister who was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1990 and was the recipient of a major scholarship. She was called to the Bar in 1991 and completed her pupillage in Brick Court Chambers, where she developed a highly distinguished practice covering all aspects of commercial litigation, competition/EU law and regulatory/public law. She was nominated by Chambers & Partners for Competition Silk of the Year 2018 and Commercial Silk of the Year 2020, and by The Legal 500 for Silk of the Year in 2022. In 2019 and 2023 she won Commercial Litigation Silk of the Year in the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards, and in 2024 she won Banking & Finance Silk of Year in the Chambers & Partners UK Bar Awards. In 2025, Master Davies was nominated for The Lawyer’s Barrister of the Year award, and in 2026 she was recognised as one of the Stars at the Bar by Chambers & Partners, following her ranking in the Chambers UK Bar Guide. She regularly sits as an arbitrator in international and domestic arbitrations, appointed by the ICC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA and other arbitral institutions, and has chaired many such Tribunals.

Master Davies took Silk in 2008. She has been one of the Joint Heads of Brick Court Chambers since 2013 and has at various times chaired the Chambers’ Pupillage, Equality and Diversity, IT and GDPR Committees, and its Executive Committee.

Master Davies is a steadfast supporter of the Inn and has made a substantial and consistent contribution over many years. She was appointed as a Barrister Governing Bencher of the Inn in 2010 and has served on the Investment Sub-Committee and the Outreach Committee (now the Scholarships and Outreach Committee), becoming Vice Chair of the latter in 2015. She served on the Executive Committee from 2015 to end-2022, and for two consecutive terms (the maximum permitted) as the Inn’s Trustee of the Council of the Inns of Court from 2016 to end-2022, an important period during which the Inns of Court College of Advocacy Bar Course was developed. It is expected that she will be the first female to be elected to serve as Treasurer of any of the Inns of Court who is simultaneously practising as a barrister.

Master Davies is also a Trustee of the Old Vic Theatre in London and Variety, the Children’s Charity.

Bio

Lady Justice Juliet May studied PPP (Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology) at Wadham College, Oxford before obtaining an M.Phil in clinical psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. She worked as a clinical psychologist in the NHS, including in forensic services, before retraining as a barrister. She was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1988, where she became a bencher in 2010. She has served on a number of Inn committee, volunteered at student training events and has chaired both the Qualifying Sessions and Education and Training Committees. Her pupillage was at 3VB, a commercial set of chambers in Gray’s Inn, where she went on to obtain tenancy, taking silk in 2008. She served as a part time judge of the Mental Health Tribunal (England) between 2002 and 2008. She was appointed a Recorder in 2001, a Circuit Judge in 2008, a deputy High Court Judge in 2013 and a High Court Judge assigned to the Queen’s, now King’s, Bench Division in 2015.  She was a Presiding Judge on the Western Circuit for four years from 2017 to 2020. She was appointed Judicial Lead for Youth Justice in 2022. She joined the Sentencing Council as a judicial member in 2020 and was appointed as Chair of the Sentencing Council on 6 October 2025.

Bio

Tracy Ayling KC is a practising barrister, whose chambers are at 2 BR Chancery Lane. Tracy was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1983 and was elected as a Bencher in 2011. She took silk in 2006. Tracy practises in crime, both prosecuting and defending in some of the highest profile cases.

Her involvement with the Inn after Call started with advocacy training, becoming a Teacher Trainer in 2008, and Chair of the Advocacy Training Committee in 2015. Tracy continues to teach advocacy to pupils and new practitioners both at home and internationally, including in Sierra Leone, Romania and the USA.

She has served on both the Executive Committee and the Treasurer Nomination Committee. She was the Inn’s representative on the COIC Tribunal Appointments Board and is a Trustee of the Temple Music Trust and of the Temple Church.

From 2019 she was the Chair of Education for the Criminal Bar Association and regularly lectures on matters in relation to Vulnerable witnesses. She is also the author of the chapter on disclosure in Vulnerable People and the Criminal Justice System (Cooper and Norton, ed., OUP), the leading book on the participation of vulnerable witnesses and defendants in the criminal justice system.

Phone

020 7797 8177

Email

subtreasurer@innertemple.org.uk

Bio

Mr Dorey has had a distinguished career in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, serving at various times as Ambassador to Ethiopia, Djibouti and the African Union; and to Hungary; plus spells as Deputy Head of Mission in Hong Kong and Pakistan. He holds a Masters degree in Modern History from Exeter College, University of Oxford.