Warm tributes are being paid to leading construction silk Paul Darling KC, who died of a suspected heart attack on Friday (2 August) at Middle Temple, where he was treasurer.

His set, 39 Essex Chambers, released the news on Sunday, saying: "We are in shock and grief. Our loss is profound, and his going will affect many.”  

In its statement, the set described Darling, who was 64, as “a towering figure and one of the finest advocates of the construction Bar, whose cross-examination was as devastating as it was entertaining”.

It added that he was “a mentor, an inspiration and a good friend with a caring nature, which could not be hidden behind his large personality”. 

Barristers and solicitors alike paid tribute to him on LinkedIn, praising his commitment to social mobility and his support of the junior Bar, including through the Kalisher Trust, which aims to  broaden the ethnic and social representation of the criminal bar 

Darling was born in County Durham. He was educated locally in Sunderland and later at Winchester College before attending Oxford University at St Edmund Hall. He chose not to go into the family business, which owned – and still does – a chain of local pharmacies across his native North East, which, later in life, he championed enthusiastically on social media. Instead, he opted to join the Bar, where he was called in 1983, joining Keating Chambers. 

Darling built a formidable reputation in the construction industry, handling cases such as group actions against developers and disputes involving subsidence, landslips, noise, vibration, and dust in construction. He also dealt with complex claims relating to property damage and professional negligence at first instance, on appeal, and up to the UK Supreme Court.

His construction practice also covered contractual claims, including calculating damages for liquidated damages. One famous case was Temloc v Errill Properties Ltd (1988), an appellate case on liquidated damages, “which he was famed for shoe-horning into his submissions wherever he plausibly could”, noted his former set, dryly. 

Darling’s arbitral practice spanned all the major arbitral institutions, including those in Asia and the Middle East, where he was a familiar presence, and London, where he sat as an arbitrator, adjudicator and mediator.

Keating Chambers recalled that Darling “was a shrewd advocate. Teased for finding the key to a case somewhere near the top of the hearing bundle, rather than buried deep within it, there was no doubting his instinct, and it led to many of his forensic successes.”  He took silk in 1999, just sixteen years after being called to the Bar.

Darling was active at Keating Chambers for more than thirty years, volunteering on many committees as the set expanded in John Marrin QC and Sir Vivien Ramsey’s time. In 2010, he became head of chambers, “almost by proclamation”, Keating noted. 

During Darling’s tenure, the the set developed its constitution and reorganised its management structure, introducing a CEO role in 2014, filled by Declan Redmond. This change followed the retirement of long-serving senior clerk Barry Bridgman and the subsequent departure of former senior clerk Nick Child, who is now with Secretariat. After Redmond's departure in 2022, Keating further refined the roles and responsibilities, appointing Will Shrubsall and James Luxmore as joint directors of clerking, with support from COO Alison Crosland.   

Darling’s successor as head of chambers, Marcus Taverner KC, said he had “made an indelible contribution to Keating Chambers during his many years here, including the work he put in during his time as head of chambers”.

He moved to 39 Essex Chambers in 2015 to fulfil his broader interests in sports law and commercial law and to bolster the set’s own construction and competition law practice. His infrastructure experience saw him act for the Sports Ground Safety Authority, set up after the Hillsborough disaster, for which he was awarded an OBE in 2015, following in the footsteps of both his parents, who were similarly honoured. 

A former chair of the Association of British Bookmakers, Darling was also a popular Horseracing Betting Levy Board chair, a role which he undertook with enormous enthusiasm. 

Darling contribution to his temple was reflected by his election as treasurer earlier this year. Middle Temple’s deputy treasurer, appellate judge Dame Kate Thirlwall, said: “For over forty years, he was a constant in every part of the Inn. He worked selflessly and tirelessly for the good of others and the Inn, most recently as a wonderful treasurer. He will be very much missed by us all.”  

Darling is survived by his wife, Dr Camilla Darling, the daughter of His Honour Brian Barker CBE KC, the former Recorder of London, and Dame Anne Rafferty DBE, a retired lady justice of appeal, and his family.