< Barrister List

Naomi Cunningham

Called to bar 1994

Clerk Chris Gittins Tel: 020 7353 6381
Email Naomi Cunningham
vCard Naomi Cunningham

Called to the Bar in 1994, Naomi Cunningham spent a number of years as an employment specialist in London law centres and the Free Representation Unit before returning to independent practice in 2004. Her years as a 'front-line' adviser have equipped her with a detailed understanding of all aspects of employment tribunal practice and procedure and of the challenges facing a busy employment solicitor.

While at FRU, Naomi trained and supported volunteers taking their first steps in employment litigation. This experience informed her popular and practical book Employment Tribunal Claims: tactics and precedents (2005 LAG; 2nd ed. with co-author Michael Reed, LAG 2007). Claimants acting in person and junior employment lawyers swear by the book - and it is said that even experienced solicitors consult it occasionally when  no-one is looking. One reviewer commented, 'I would have given my eye teeth for this book as a newly qualified employment lawyer.'  She has appeared regularly at the EAT, and contributed the commentary on the EAT rules of procedure and practice direction in Employment Court Practice (see below), the sections on appeals to the Court of Appeal and costs in the employment tribunal.

Naomi now acts for a mix of employees and large and small employers. She places an emphasis on demystifying the employment tribunal process for clients with prompt, clear and practical advice. Recent successes include an award of over £200,000 for her client in a disability discrimination case against a local authority, and an award of over £300,000 in a sex discrimination case in a school. She has a particular interest in employment in the public and voluntary sectors. 

Areas of practice
All areas of employment law, including acting as external decision-maker on appeals against dismissal etc; particular interests in discrimination, equal pay, working time and minimum wage.

Notable cases

• Blundell v Governing Body of St Andrew's Catholic Primary School [2007] ICR 1451, EAT The first appeal case on the definition of the 'job' to which a woman has the right to return following maternity leave.
• Moyhing v Barts & the London NHS Trust [2006] IRLR 860, EAT Sex discrimination against a male student nurse (funded by the EOC).
• Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Griffiths-Henry [2006] IRLR 865, EAT The burden of proof in discrimination cases.
• Comfort v Department for Constitutional Affairs (2006) (ET); (2005) (EAT); [2004] EWCA Civ 349 (CA) Constructive dismissal case remitted by the CA for re-hearing after the original ET failed to deal with allegation of perjury by a senior civil servant giving evidence for the Respondent. The second appeal to the EAT concerned disclosure of the Respondent's notes of evidence from the previous hearing.
• Gdynia America Shipping Lines (London) Ltd v Chelminski [2004] ICR 1523, CA Time for appealing an employment tribunal decision.
• Kwamin v Abbey National plc [2004] ICR 841, EAT. Delay in promulgation of ET decisions, Article 6.
• Addison & Addison v Ashby [2003] ICR 667 Whether child workers entitled under the Working Time Regulations to paid annual leave.