The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court, bodies with the exclusive right to call men and women to the Bar. All prospective barristers must belong to an Inn of Court in order to qualify to practise. Gray's Inn is situated in Holborn, in the London Borough of Camden. It is led by around two-hundred Masters of the Bench or 'Benchers', usually senior judges or Queen's Counsel, elected from the most disinguished members of the Inn. Meetings of the Masters of the Bench are known as pensions.

The land now covered by the Inn first belonged to Reginald de Grey, who died in 1308. It is uncertain quite when the Inn itself was founded, but its members are mentioned in manuscripts from as far back as 1388. Records belonging to the Inn itself date from 1569, fires in the seventeenth century being the most likely cause of the loss of older information. Gray's Inn is also notable for being instrumental in the introduction of mock trials and advocacy training for those wishing to be called to the Bar. Both of these are now compulsory stages of qualification, in addition to the traditional criterion of attending a number of dining events.

The Inn's first patron lady was Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare almost certainly performed in the Gray's Inn Hall. Distinguished members of the Inn have included Sir William Cecil (later Lord Burleigh), Sir Francis Bacon, Thomas Cromwell, Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Heath, as well as the Law Lords Lord Birkenhead, Lord Atkin and Lord Bingham of Cornhill. Of the current Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, Lord Hoffmann, Lady Hale of Richmond and Lord Carswell are Masters of the Bench of Gray's Inn. Lord Hope of Craighead is an Honorary Bencher.