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Oliver Lawrence defeats non-compete injunction in the High Court

Oliver Lawrence defeats non-compete injunction in the High Court

Oliver Lawrence successfully represented the Defendant before HHJ Watson (sitting as a High Court Judge) in Birmingham. The application for a non-compete injunction was brought by a catering company against one of its former managers. The injunction sought would have prevented the employee from working for a competitor for six months after the termination of his employment. The main issue in the case was whether the non-compete covenant was drafted too broadly to be enforceable. It was found to be too wide. The contractual wording was insufficient to tie the prohibited activities to the sector of the former employee. The absence of a geographical restriction meant that the non-compete operated globally. The clause also forbade the employee from being involved…

News 11 Feb, 2025

Andrew Short KC, Paul Livingston & Victoria Brown successful in equal value stage of Asda’s equal pay claim

Andrew Short KC, Paul Livingston & Victoria Brown successful in equal value stage of Asda’s equal pay claim

The Employment Tribunal handed down judgment on Friday 31st January 2025 in the landmark equal pay claim for Asda workers. Andrew Short KC, Paul Livingston and Victoria Brown, instructed by Leigh Day, acted for the Claimants. The ET found in favour of 12 female lead claimants, represented by Andrew, Paul and Victoria, determining that they have established equal value with at least one of the male comparators. Asda’s female workers launched their claim in 2014 against their employer based on the fact that the predominantly female retail workforce is paid less than the predominantly male depot workforce per hour. The recent decision means tens of thousands of Asda shop floor workers have now established their work was of equal value…

News 6 Feb, 2025

Naomi Cunningham successfully represents Claimant in securing rejection of an anonymity order

Naomi Cunningham successfully represents Claimant in securing rejection of an anonymity order

Naomi Cunningham represented the Claimant, Sandy Peggie in a two-day ET hearing in Nov 2024, where she successfully opposed the application for a private hearing and anonymity order. The full trial starts on 3rd February 2025. Sandie Peggie is a female nurse. Beth Upton is a doctor identifying as a woman, and has been given permission to use women’s facilities in the hospital. Peggie objected to Dr Upton’s presence in the changing room she uses and, having failed to get any support from management, on the third occasion she encountered Upton there she said she didn’t think they ought to be there, and it was making her feel uncomfortable. A complaint of bullying was made against Peggie, she was suspended…

News 3 Feb, 2025

Monique Bouffé and Chevan Ilangaratne to speak at ELA's annual refresher course

Monique Bouffé and Chevan Ilangaratne to speak at ELA’s annual refresher course

Employment Law barristers Monique Bouffé and Chevan Ilangaratne will be speaking at ELA’s annual refresher course ‘What’s New in Employment Law’ on Wednesday 29th January 2025. The Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) is a apolitical organisation representing the views and interests of just over 6,000 specialist, qualified employment lawyers in the UK. Since its inception in 1992, ELA has become the voice of authority in employment law. It promotes the best practice of employment law. ELA’s refresher course ‘What’s New in Employment Law’ is aimed at those who have been out of practice for a period over the past year, or who are looking for a round-up of developments in 2024. The course flags up cases and other developments which will…

News 21 Jan, 2025

Jessica Franklin successfully represents the Claimant against the SoS for Justice indirect discrimination and victimisation

Jessica Franklin successfully represents the Claimant against the SoS for Justice for indirect discrimination and victimisation

Jessica Franklin successfully represented the Claimant, a dog handler, in a claim against the SoS for Justice for indirect discrimination and victimisation. The Claimant is a drug-detection dog handler at HMP Pentonville. The Claimant was granted partial retirement to care for her elderly father. The Tribunal found that the decision to grant the Claimant partial retirement was met with “disappointment and irritation” by the Claimant’s managers and that they tried to make “the practical application of [her partial retirement] as difficult as possible for the Claimant”. Following her partial retirement, the Claimant applied to work a shift pattern with fewer weekends so that she could meet her caring responsibilities. This was repeatedly refused by her managers. The Tribunal upheld all the…

News 6 Jan, 2025

Sapan Maini-Thompson acts for successful Claimant in unfair dismissal and discrimination case

Sapan Maini-Thompson acts for successful Claimant in unfair dismissal and discrimination case

Sapan Maini-Thompson successfully represented a Claimant secondary school teacher against an Academy Trust in a claim for unfair dismissal and discrimination arising from disability under section 15 Equality Act. The Claimant, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was dismissed for an alleged safeguarding failure ending her unblemished 34-year teaching career. The Tribunal decided the Trust had no reasonable belief that the Claimant was individually responsible for the averred failure. The Tribunal found the Claimant had been unfairly blamed for a “system failure”. In addition, by failing to investigate the implications of the Claimant’s forgetfulness (arising from her disability) in relation to a separate safeguarding incident for which the Claimant was also blamed, the Trust’s decision to dismiss was discriminatory. The case…

News 22 Nov, 2024

Andrew Allen KC and Alex Line successfully represent the Ministry of Justice and Lord Chancellor in rehearing of pay and pensions claims brought by judges

Andrew Allen KC and Alex Line successfully represent the Ministry of Justice and Lord Chancellor in rehearing of pay and pensions claims brought by judges

In long running group litigation, the Ministry of Justice and Lord Chancellor, represented by Andrew Allen KC and Alex Line, who were instructed by the Government Legal Department, have successfully defended claims brought by judges under the Part-time Worker (Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 in relation to their pay and pension conditions. Background The case concerns Circuit Judges who are authorised under s.9(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 to sit in the High Court. When doing so, the Claimants (who form part of a wider cohort of judge claimants) contended that they were part-time workers, and treated less favourably compared to salaried judges of the High Court in respect of pay and pension. Another Claimant was a salaried District…

News 13 Nov, 2024

Outer Temple Chambers members to attend DAW 2024 and The Bar Council Development Event

Outer Temple Chambers members to attend DAW 2024 and The Bar Council Development Event

9 members of Outer Temple’s International Team will be attending Dubai Arbitration Week (DAW 2024) between 11th – 15th November 2024, including The Bar Council Development event. Outer Temple’s David Russell KC, Andrew Spink KC, Philip Punwar, Justina Stewart, Sean Yates, Peter Linstead, Stephen Doherty, Lucian ILIE, and Lexie Johnson will be joining delegates at this year’s Dubai Arbitration Week. They will be available to meet up with colleagues during their time in the region. The team will be speaking at a number of seminars and events throughout DAW 2024, as well as the parallel UK-UAE Bar Council Business Development Event between 10-14th November 2024. UK-UAE Bar Council Business Development Event The Bar Council will be making its first business development visit to the UAE. Peter Smith…

Events, News 7 Nov, 2024

Outer Temple Chambers welcomes two new junior barristers

Outer Temple Chambers welcomes two new junior barristers

We are delighted to welcome Jessica Franklin and Sapandeep Singh Maini-Thompson to Outer Temple Chambers as new junior tenants. Jessica Franklin and Sapandeep Singh Maini-Thompson joined the Outer Temple team in October, further bolstering our junior cohort of specialists to fulfill ever-growing demand. Jessica Franklin joined the Bar in 2021 after a successful career in advertising and marketing. She now specialises in personal injury law and employment law. Jessica’s employment practice is particularly focused on discrimination, unfair dismissal and whistleblowing claims. She has a particular interest in personal injury claims brought in the Employment Tribunal and she has been instructed in claims involving not only psychiatric injuries but also physical injuries arising out of discrimination.  Her personal injury practice extends to…

News 22 Oct, 2024

Naomi Ling and Courtney Step-Marsden instructed in MacLennan v British Psychological Society

Naomi Ling and Courtney Step-Marsden instructed in MacLennan v British Psychological Society

Naomi Ling and Courtney Step-Marsden were instructed by the Charity Commission to intervene before the Employment Appeal Tribunal in the case of MacLennan v British Psychological Society, the judgment in which was handed down today. The EAT considered whether Dr MacLennan, as a Trustee of the British Psychological Society, had ‘worker status’ within s230 of the Employment Rights Act. It found that the ET had not erred in concluding that there was no contract between the parties, as the relationship was governed by the charity’s governing documentation. However, it remitted to the ET the question of whether excluding Dr MacLennan from such statutory protection was in breach of his Article 10 right (to freedom of expression) when read together with…

News 21 Oct, 2024

Chambers & Partners award Band 1 Set status to Outer Temple Chambers

Chambers & Partners award Band 1 Set status to Outer Temple Chambers

Chambers and Partners UK Bar 2025 have today launched their 2025 Guide and we are delighted to share the highlights from this year’s rankings, including two Band 1 awards for our Pensions Law team and Travel Law team. We are delighted to share the news that Outer Temple Chambers has yet again been awarded 9 set rankings in the 2025 Chambers & Partners UK Bar Guide and over 110 individual rankings. In what is our best set of rankings ever, our individual rankings see 12 new entries and 16 elevations, whilst we are delighted with two new Band 1 set rankings. A huge congratulations to all of our barristers and clerks for another year of excellent results. A particular thank…

News 17 Oct, 2024

London Bar Legal 500 Rankings 2025

Another stellar set of rankings for OTC in the Legal 500 2025 Guide

The Legal 500 2025 rankings have just been announced and Outer Temple Chambers is delighted with another year of excellent results including a Tier 1 Pensions ranking We are proud to announce that we have been recognised as a Top Tier Set in Crypto & Blockchain Assets again, as well as achieving a Top Tier Set ranking in Pensions. These Tier 1 rankings mean we are now ranked for excellence in nine practice area rankings with 73 individual members ranked across 27 practice areas. A huge congratulations to all of our barristers and clerks within these teams for another year of excellent results. A particular thank you to all our clients and colleagues for taking the time to provide references.…

News 2 Oct, 2024

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