Outer Temple Chambers is rated highly both for its counsel and clerking

Keith Bryant

Call date: 1991
Email: Keith Bryant
Areas of Law: Employment & Discrimination, Financial Services, Pensions, Professional Negligence
Practice summary

Keith Bryant was called in 1991 and specialises in all aspects of employment law and pensions law.

Keith's practice in employment law covers both advisory work and litigation and he appears regularly in the tribunals, High Court and appeal courts.

Recent employment cases of note include:

Deakin and others v Kuehne & Nagel Drinks Logistics Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 22

Key2Law (Surrey) LLP v De’Antiquis [2011] EWCA Civ 1567

Spaceright Europe Ltd v Baillavoine [2011] EWCA Civ 1565

Vickers v London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority [2011] EWCA Civ 494, [2011] ICR D24

Kuehne & Nagel Drinks Logistics Ltd v Deakin and others [2011] UKEAT/0030/11/RN

Keith’s pensions practice covers both contentious and non-contentious work.  He acts for and advises a wide range of clients including trustees, employers, scheme advisers and trade unions.  He has acted for a number of representative beneficiaries in recent rectification and other High Court claims.  He has also been involved in a number of matters before the Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator (including advising the panel in the Nortel case) and has advised and acted for the Pension Protection Fund in claims for the recovery of levy payments.  Keith also has particular expertise in statutory pension schemes and regularly advises in relation to the police, firefighters’, teachers’, NHS and local government pension schemes.

Recent pension cases of note include:

Pioneer GB Ltd v Webb and others [2011] EWHC 2683 (Ch), [2011] PLR 425

Foster Wheeler v Hanley and others [2009] EWCA 651, [2010] ICR 374

Marrion and others v London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and others [2009] EWCA Civ 450

A selection of recent cases
  • Deakin and others v Kuehne & Nagel Drinks Logistics Ltd
  • [2012] EWCA Civ 22

 

  • Key2Law (Surrey) LLP v De’Antiquis
  • [2011] EWCA Civ 1567
  • Regulation 8(7) of TUPE – whether UK administration can ever fall within regulation 8(7) insolvency exception – this is the further appeal in the OTG v Barke case reported at [2011] ICR 781, [2011] IRLR 272, EAT.

 

  • Spaceright Europe Ltd v Baillavoine
  • [2011] EWCA Civ 1565
  • Meaning of 'reason connected with the transfer' in regulation 7(1) of TUPE and ambit of ETOR defence when dismissal by administrators to make business more attractive to potential purchasers.

 

  • Pioneer GB Ltd v Webb and others
  • [2011] EWHC 2683 (Ch), [2011] PLR 425
  • Equalisation and rectification of pension scheme documentation

 

  • Vickers v London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority
  • [2011] EWCA Civ 494, [2011] ICR D24
  • Construction of fire authority collective agreement.

  • Kuehne & Nagel Drinks Logistics Ltd v Deakin and others
  • [2011] UKEAT/0030/11/RN
  • Construction of collective agreement in haulage industry - heard in Court of Appeal in November 2011 (judgment awaited).

 

  • Foster Wheeler v Hanley and others
  • [2009] EWCA 651, [2010] ICR 374
  • Acting for representative beneficiary in claim relating to impact of European equal pay law on UK pension scheme

 

  • Marrion and others v London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and others
  • [2009] EWCA Civ 450
  • Judicial Review relating to Firefighters' Pension Scheme
Keith Bryant
Select elements

"Technically excellent and very responsive," he is considered to be a "real unsung star of the Employment Bar with a successful career ahead of him” Employment, Chambers and Partners 2012

"maintains a strong pensions practice alongside his highly regarded employment expertise. Combining his in-depth knowledge of these two fields, he regularly advises local government, NHS employers, police forces and fire authorities in relation to their statutory schemes. He attracts particular praise for his straightforward advice, with one interviewee asserting: "He gave us a firm opinion where others may have tried to sit on the fence." Pensions, Chambers and Partners 2012

‘The ‘approachable and intelligent’ Keith Bryant uses his wider employment practice to inform his pensions work’  Pensions, Legal 500, 2011

‘engaging’  Employment, Legal 500, 2011

‘warm and humorous manner’, ‘great ability to command a court and lend gravitas to any arguments’ ‘he takes a pragmatic approach and selects his arguments wisely’ Employment, Chambers and Partners 2011

‘effectiveness in court … superior knowledge of pensions law’  Pensions, Chambers and Partners 2011