News & Events
News & Events
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
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
We are pleased to announce that Martina Murphy has been shortlisted for Employment ‘Junior Counsel of the Year’ at the International Employment Lawyer (IEL) Awards taking place on Wednesday 13th November at The Dorchester, London. The annual International Employment Lawyer Awards recognises the very best private practice and in-house teams from around the globe. Martina Murphy has been shortlisted for ‘Junior Counsel of the Year’ for 2024. This award recognises the advocacy, investigative, and advisory skills of leading independent junior advocates from around the globe. Nominees will have worked on high-profile, cutting-edge disputes, been instructed in sensitive workplace investigations, or acted on complex advisory matters in the past 12 months. To view a full list of nominees, click here. Find…
News 2 Oct, 2024
The Employment Tribunal has handed down judgment in Thandi and Others v Next PLC. Andrew Short KC and Gus Baker represented the successful claimants. Following a three-week hearing in May 2024, the Employment Tribunal rejected the Respondents’ argument that paying comparators who worked in majority male warehouses a better hourly rate and better allowances than individuals who worked in retail (who are overwhelmingly female) due to market forces was a proportionate means of meeting a legitimate aim. The judgment means that the equal terms clauses implied into retail workers contracts are effective. Accordingly, thousands of individuals will be entitled to recover arrears of pay from 2012 to date. The claim is the first of a number retail equal pay cases…
News 27 Aug, 2024
Outer Temple’s Martina Murphy was successful on behalf of the claimant in Ms Leeks v University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The EAT’s judgment provides important clarification on whether a refusal to enter judicial mediation or assessment can in principle amount to unreasonable conduct which could result in an award of costs. On behalf of the Claimant, it was argued that the clear ‘direction of travel’ in the Civil Courts and Tribunal is increasingly to encourage alternative dispute resolution (ADR). The Respondent’s arguments included, that a distinction can been made between a mere refusal to engage in judicial mediation and the reasonableness of the decision to do so. Having reviewed some of the key decisions in the Civil Courts…
News 22 Aug, 2024
Martina Murphy successfully represented the Claimants in ‘British Airways Plc v Rollett & Others, Minister for Women and Equalities intervening’; claims for ‘same disadvantage’ indirect discrimination could be brought under s.19 EqA 2010. The President of the EAT, Mrs Justice Eady, has dismissed BA’s appeal and held that indirect discrimination under section 19 Equality Act 2010 allows a claim by someone who does not have the protected characteristic of the disadvantaged group but suffers the same disadvantage. The Respondent (BA) appealed the Employment Tribunal’s finding that it had jurisdiction to hear ‘associative’ indirect discrimination claims under s19 EqA 2010. The EAT considered the CJEU’s judgment in CHEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD v Komisia za zashita ot discriminatsia (Case C-83/14) [2015] IRLR 746 (‘CHEZ’).…
News 21 Aug, 2024
Naomi Cunningham secures £54,000 compensation for a social worker after her local authority employer admitted discriminating against her protected beliefs. Naomi recently acted for Lizzy Pitt who accused her employer, Cambridgeshire County Council, of harassment related to sexual orientation and her philosophical beliefs. The council had launched disciplinary proceedings against Ms Pitt after she voiced her gender-critical views at an LGBT network meeting. The council launched a probe after formal complaints were made which led to a management instruction and suspension from the LGBT network. Ms Pitt said she found the whole process “stressful and humiliating” and took the council to an employment tribunal. On the morning of the hearing, the council accepted liability and agreed to pay Ms Pitt…
News 12 Aug, 2024
Outer Temple’s Naomi Cunningham has been published in the August 2024 ELA Briefing in an article titled ‘Legal costs as damages for discrimination’. Naomi Cunningham of Outer Temple Chambers has written an article with Shazia Khan of Cole Khan Solicitors for the August 2024 ELA Briefing. In this article, Naomi and Shazia discussed damages, litigation costs and the Tribunal. They also discussed the recent decision of Meade v Westminster City Council and Social Work England (in which they successfully represented the Claimant). To read the full article ‘Legal costs as damages for discrimination’, click here. Find out more Naomi Cunningham has specialised in discrimination law, mainly but not exclusively in the employment context, throughout her career. In recent years, Naomi has…
External Publications, News 7 Aug, 2024
Naomi Cunningham has been published in the latest Discrimination Law Association Briefings paper dissecting the case of Omooba v Michael Garrett Associates (1) Leicester Theatre Trust Ltd (2). Naomi Cunningham’s article titled ‘Bowing to the mob: a ‘business case’ defence?’ was included in the DLA July briefing paper (Vol 82, 1088-1100 July 2024) following the recent EAT decision in Omooba v Michael Garrett Associates (1) Leicester Theatre Trust Ltd (2) [2024] EAT 30. Actress Seyi Omooba accepted a role as a lesbian character. However, whenever historic homophobic comments surfaced on social media, her contract was terminated. Despite conceding that she would have resigned in any event, Ms Omooba brought employment tribunal claims of discrimination and harassment on grounds of religion…
External Publications, News 2 Jul, 2024
In Clayson and others v Ministry of Justice and others [2024] EAT 99, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (Mr Justice Kerr) dismissed an appeal brought by Claimant Circuit Judges in relation to their pension rights. Andrew Allen KC and Alexander Line successfully represented the Respondents. The three test Claimants (who formed part of a larger cohort) were each former Recorders who were appointed to the office of Circuit Judge on or after 31st March 1995. That date was important, as it was the date on which a new judicial pension scheme under the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 (‘JUPRA’) came into effect. They contended that the terms of this scheme were less favourable than the scheme under the Judicial Pensions…
News 28 Jun, 2024
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has handed down judgment in the case of NSL v Zaluski, in which Lydia Seymour and Elizabeth Grace successfully acted for the Appellant. The Employment Appeal Tribunal has handed down a detailed judgment overturning an Employment Tribunal’s finding of indirect race discrimination in relation to an employer’s annual leave policy during the Covid pandemic. The EAT also overturned an award of aggravated damages but upheld a finding of harassment related to race. In NSL v Zaluski [2024] EAT 86, the employer adopted an annual leave policy during the pandemic which required employees to factor in any relevant period of quarantine as a result of the pandemic. If an employee exceeded the authorised period of leave, even…
News 25 Jun, 2024
Outer Temple Chambers’ Employment Law specialist, Daniel Barnett, has recently hit one million downloads on his podcast channel ‘Employment Law Matters’, ranking it a #1 business podcast. Employment Law Matters, the podcast by Daniel Barnett, which features many members of the Outer Temple Chambers employment team, has been ranked a #1 business podcast in the Apple podcast charts, after reaching one million downloads. Launched five years ago, for the first 12 months after the podcast launched, Daniel published one episode a week, mainly consisting of monologues and mini-seminars on employment law. During the height of the Covid lockdown, it moved to up to three episodes a week keeping employment lawyers and HR Professionals up to date on the frequently changing furlough…
News 11 Jun, 2024
