News & Events
News & Events
The 10th edition of the Employment Law Handbook has been published with the General editor, Daniel Barnett, and contributors, Chevan Ilangaratne and Sophie Hyland, from Outer Temple Chambers’ employment team. The 10th edition of the Employment Law Handbook deals with the biggest change in employment law for a generation: the Employment Rights Act 2025. The changes since the last edition are huge. Statutory sick pay, parental leave and paternity leave became day one rights on 6 April 2026. From October 2026, tribunal time limits double from three to six months, and the duty to prevent sexual harassment becomes a duty to take all reasonable steps, extended to harassment by third parties. From 1 January 2027, the unfair dismissal qualifying period…
External Publications 9 Oct, 2026
Outer Temple Chambers is celebrating today after receiving a total of 156 rankings in the Legal 500 UK Bar 2027 tables, including three Top Tier set positions for our Crypto, Pensions and Personal Injury teams. The Legal 500 UK Bar 2027 results were announced on 1st October and we would like to congratulate all of our colleagues and thank all of our friends and clients for helping to make this yet another standout success of a year. After winning ‘Personal Injury Set of the Year’ at the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards 2026 last month, we are delighted that this recognition has continued with a Top Tier Set ranking for the Personal Injury team, alongside our existing Top Tier Set…
News 1 Oct, 2026
Employment barrister, Grace Nicholls, successfully represented Harrow Club in an unfair dismissal appeal brought by a former employee (Burke v The Harrow Club [2026] EAT 141). The Appellant, Mr Burke, was working as a youth worker at the Respondent’s youth club in West London. Following an altercation involving two young people the Respondent had cause to invite the Appellant to a disciplinary hearing. Three allegations were considered and each upheld resulting in the Appellant’s dismissal for gross misconduct. One of the allegations involved a failure to follow the Serious Youth Violence Incident Procedure and the administration of first aid without training or permission (and a failure to notify a trained first aider). The Appellant brought claims in the Employment Tribunal.…
News 29 Sep, 2026
Event Date: 20 Oct, 2026
Join Andrew Allen KC, Chevan Ilangaratne and Jessica Franklin for the second instalment of our Employment Lawyers Talks Series on 20th October 2026. As the second part of our Employment Lawyers Talks Series, aimed at those under 10 years PQE, this seminar will provide a ‘Whistlestop tour’ update on the law of whistleblowing and the practical steps both Claimants and Respondents need to consider in the run-up to an Interim Relief Hearing. The session will feature discussion of scenarios based on real cases and will be followed by a Q&A. Following the Q&A you are invited to stay for networking drinks. Agenda 17:30 – Registration 17:45 – 18:45 – Seminar 18:45 – 20:00 – Networking To book onto this event,…
Sapan Maini-Thompson has acted successfully for the former Deputy National Secretary of the Police Federation, Gemma Fox, to establish the jurisdiction of the Employment Tribunal over her claims for whistleblowing detriment, sex discrimination and harassment. As the Claimant is an elected official lacking worker status, the primary dispute before the Tribunal was whether she is in a position “analogous” to a ‘limb b’ worker under the Employment Rights Act and, if so, whether it would amount to a discriminatory breach of her right to free speech under the ECHR to deny her whistleblowing protections. The Respondent argued the Claimant was in a position analogous to a secondee (deployed from the City of London police force) and therefore she was barred…
News 2 Sep, 2026
Emman Kaur Bhangu has been successful at a public preliminary hearing for her claimant client in Sabir v The Government of the United Arab Emirates. In August 2026, Emman Bhangu, acted as counsel in Sabir v The Government of the United Arab Emirates (Case No. 2201882/2024) at the Central London Employment Tribunal. Her claimant client, a Medical Co-ordinator employed at the UAE Embassy’s Dubai Health Authority (London) function, brought claims of unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, and failure to pay a redundancy payment and holiday pay. The UAE Government asserted state immunity under the State Immunity Act 1978. At a Public Preliminary Hearing before Employment Judge Brown, Emman successfully established that state immunity did not bar the claimant’s claims. The Tribunal accepted…
News 12 Aug, 2026
We are delighted to announce that Grace Nicholls will be joining our successful employment team at Outer Temple Chambers. Grace is an experienced Employment Law barrister instructed by Claimants and Respondents across all areas of employment law. Her practice encompasses drafting pleadings, appearances at closed and open preliminary hearings including on substantive issues of strike out, time and disability status, final hearings and appeals. Described as “thorough and meticulous”, an “impressive junior” and a “superb advocate” by the directories, she brings with her a wealth of experience that is certain to add to, and complement, chambers specialist employment team. Practice Director, Nick Levett adds “we are delighted to welcome Grace to our employment law team. Her exceptional track record in…
News 10 Aug, 2026
Martina Murphy KC was featured as a speaker at the recent online conference ‘Implementing the Employment Rights Act 2025: Where Are We Now?’. Specifically, Martina covered ‘Guaranteed Hours, cancelled shifts and the new contractual rights’. The conference, organised by Michael Rubenstein Conferences, brought together seven of the UK’s top employment law KCs to ‘provide authoritative up-to-date guidance on the Act and its practical implications’. In addition to Martina’s talk, other topics covered include new guidance on harassment, changes to the law on industrial action and trade unions, changes to dismissal law, parental rights and sick pay, and fair pay agreements. For more information on this conference, click here. Find Out More Martina Murphy specialises in employment, group litigation and professional…
News 7 Jul, 2026
Former member of Outer Temple Chambers, Natasha Joffe, has been appointed a Circuit Judge of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. The appointment will take effect from 6 July 2026. Natasha was called to the Bar in 1992 and practiced at Outer Temple Chambers until 2019 when she left private practice to become a salaried Employment Tribunal Judge of the Employment Tribunals. From 6 July, Natasha will be known as Her Honour Judge Joffe. All at Outer Temple Chambers wish to congratulate Natasha on this fantastic achievement. The official announcement can be found here.
News 29 Jun, 2026
We are delighted to announce nominations including ‘Set of the Year’ for both Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence. The Legal 500 Bar Awards seek to recognise the highest quality chambers as a whole across England and Wales, as well as all people within them. The awards celebrate the finest barristers, chambers, and legal expertise, bringing together some of the brightest minds in the industry. The Legal 500 Bar Awards ceremony will take place on 22 September 2026 at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London. Set Awards We are proud to share that we have been shortlisted for the following Set Awards: Clinical Negligence Set of the Year Personal Injury Set of the Year Individual Nominations On top of these team accolades, we…
News 15 Jun, 2026
We are delighted to announce that employment law and discrimination barrister, Charlotte Tosti, has joined the Employment Law team at Outer Temple Chambers. Since joining the Bar in 2024, Charlotte’s employment practice already spans the full range of employment and discrimination matters in the employment tribunal and county courts. She is regularly instructed in the employment tribunal for both claimants and respondents across a wide range of claims including worker status; unfair dismissal; whistleblowing; disability, race and gender reassignment discrimination, and equal pay. To complement her practice, she has experience of, and offers services in, inquests, personal injury, clinical negligence and public law. As a native speaker, she also accepts instructions in the Italian language. Before coming to the Bar, Charlotte worked in Parliament as a…
News 1 Jun, 2026
Employment Tribunal rules in favour of agoraphobic claimant on basis of unfair dismissal and disability discrimination in Dudding v Gravesham Borough Council. Chevan Ilangaratne acted for the Claimant, Marina Dudding, who had been working for the Respondent, Gravesham Borough Council, since 2001. The Background Ms Dudding’s most recent post was as ‘Allocations Officer’ within the Housing Options Service. From 2021 onwards, Ms Dudding had worked from home following recommendations made in a stress-risk assessment. Ms Dudding was later reviewed by Occupational Health in May 2023, which concluded that she had displayed symptoms of Agoraphobia, as well as having Depression and Anxiety. From October 2023, the Respondent removed her hybrid working arrangements, and insisted on her coming into the office full-time.…
News 1 Jun, 2026
