Former practising members of 5RB include Charles Gray QC (now Sir Charles Gray) who was appointed to the High Court bench in 1998 and Michael Tugendhat QC (now Sir Michael Tugendhat) who was appointed to the High Court bench in 2003.

At the bar, Sir Charles was instructed in many of the leading defamation and media law cases including Elton John v MGN; Esther Rantzen v MGN; the Spycatcher litigation; Tolstoy-Milovasky v Aldington; Charleston v News Group and Jonathan Aitken v Guardian.

Sir Michael was also involved in many of the leading defamation and media cases whilst at the Bar especially in the nascent area of privacy including Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta-Jones v Hello!; R v Shayler; Shevill v Press Alliance; and Jamie Theakston v MGN. He was the founding joint editor of The Law of Privacy and the Media.