Employment & Discrimination

Our Employment barristers are recognised by the leading independent legal directories as a dedicated group of specialists covering all areas of employment and discrimination law.

This includes discrimination within the context of transport, education and housing, where we have been involved in some of the leading cases that have helped to shape this area of law. Our Employment barristers are regularly instructed to act on behalf of employees and employers in a wide range of contentious and non-contentious employment-related litigation, from providing expert advice on compliance and drafting contractual terms to representation before the Courts and Employment Tribunals in the UK and overseas on issues such as restrictive covenants and injunctions to protect business interests.

We have extensive experience in public and private-sector case work at all levels. Several of our Employment barristers sit as part-time Employment Judges and we also have a number of qualified mediators within our team.

We accept Direct Access instructions from in house counsel, other professionals and members of public.

Employment Law issues that we have covered include:

• All aspects of discrimination law within the Equality Act 2010 including discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion and belief, marital status and gender reassignment
• Equal pay
• Unfair dismissal
• Wrongful dismissal and other issues concerning employment contracts
• Whistleblowing (including claims for interim relief)
• Employee competition, directors’ duties and injunctive relief
• TUPE
• Partnership disputes
• Drafting and enforcing restrictive covenants
• Employment rights including status, remuneration and fringe benefits
• Public law proceedings related to employment law and discrimination
• Sports and professional disciplinary tribunal work

As well as being recognised as a strong team by legal directories, several of our Employment barristers are also recognised individually: Timothy Dracass, Daniella Gilbert, Naomi Gyane and Heather Platt, who heads up our Employment team. Members of the team regularly contribute to the New Law Journal, the Solicitors Journal and the ELA Briefing.

In addition to providing compelling advocacy, we also have a strong tradition of conducting bespoke training with our clients. Heather Platt lectures final year law students at City University in London and several members of the Practice Group have provided employment law training for leading providers, such as Lexis Nexis, CLT, BPP and CIPD.

Our barristers are often instructed to appear in the EAT by the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the Free Representation Unit.