David Grant KC and Naomi Cunningham speaking at the ELA Annual Conference 2025

David Grant KC and Naomi Cunningham will be speaking at the Employment Lawyers Association Annual Conference 2025 on Thursday 15th May in London.

The Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) is an apolitical organisation representing the views and interests of just under 7,000 specialist, qualified employment lawyers in the UK. The ELA Annual Conference 2025 will be taking place on Wednesday 15th May 2025 at Convene Houndsditch in London. The Conference, taking place from 9:45am to 5:30pm, will be followed by a drinks reception and dinner.

David Grant KC of Outer Temple Chambers will be speaking alongside Carla Watling of Lewis Silkin on ‘Crossing the line: when do employees and fiduciaries preparing to compete act unlawfully?’ The talk will be Chaired by Alice Yandle of Farrer & Co and Harriet Bowtell of Jones Chase Employment Lawyers. This discussion will focus on the types of activity that employees and directors can lawfully do during their employment to prepare to compete against their employer, and when that activity crosses the line. The talk considers the duty to warn of competitive threats, directors’ duties and the differences between the duties of fiduciaries and employees.

Naomi Cunningham of Outer Temple Chambers, alongside Colin Davidson of Cole Khan Solicitors will be speaking on the topic of ‘Pushing the boundaries on remedies for discrimination’. The session will be Chaired by Peter Linstead of Outer Temple Chambers. The talk will focus on Meade v Westminster City Council and Social Work England. This is a case in which Social Work England were singled out by the Tribunal for an extremely rare award of “exemplary damages” because of its “serious abuse” of its regulatory power” in allowing its processes to be “subverted to punish and supress the Claimant’s lawful political speech”. This session will cover exemplary and aggravated damages – recent cases; costs as damages and recommendations – is the power as narrow as is generally believed?

To find out more about the Conference, click here.

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David Grant KC is a chancery and commercial practitioner with specialist expertise in pensions, trusts, will and estates and professional negligence. He has extensive advocacy experience up to the European Court of Justice and has also attended numerous mediations and round table meetings. David has been involved in some of the most high-profile pensions cases in recent years. David acts for employers, trustees, members, professional advisors and public bodies.

To find out more about David, contact Matt Sale on +44 (0)20 7427 4910 or Andy Hunter on +44 (0)20 7427 4905 .

Naomi Cunningham has specialised in discrimination law, mainly but not exclusively in the employment context, throughout her career. In recent years, Naomi has developed a particular interest in the interaction between the Equality Act and the Gender Recognition Act, gender reassignment discrimination, the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act, and the public sector equality duty. 

To find out more about Naomi, contact Nick Levett +44 (0)20 7427 4908 or Mark Gardner +44 (0)20 7427 4909.

News 15 May, 2025