Employment

Employment

The 4KBW Employment Team comprises dedicated, experienced and responsive barristers who are able to provide a comprehensive service in relation to employment disputes and workplace issues. We offer high quality advice and representation, often at short notice and tailored to the specific needs of the professional or lay client. 

Employment Law is a field of expertise which evolves constantly and rapidly in response to changing law and policy on employment and workplace relationships. It also overlaps with other areas of law relevant to workplace relationships, including contract, personal injury and professional regulation.

We offer members at all levels of seniority. In addition, all members of our team practise in one or more additional areas of law. The inter-disciplinary experience which they bring to their employment work means that they can offer flexibility and versatility when thinking about tactical considerations and potential wider implications of the issues in a particular case. We pride ourselves on offering clear, focussed and practical advice whilst maintaining a meticulous attention to detail. 

We act for both individual employees/workers and for employers, and appear in employment tribunals, other disciplinary and regulatory tribunals and hearings, civil courts and the appellate courts. We have experience in acting for clients in disputes across a wide range of industry sectors, including commercial/corporate workplaces, public or quasi-public sector bodies, the voluntary sector, the healthcare sector and educational institutions. 

We receive instructions from a wide variety of clients, ranging from small high street firms and consultancies to “magic circle” firms. We also frequently accept instructions from in-house lawyers within trade unions, public bodies and professional associations, as well as medium-sized and multi-national corporations. Many members of our team accept direct access instructions from individual claimants or respondents. We have a flexible and reasonable approach to fees.
The advice and representation we offer includes the following

  • Unfair dismissal claims and dismissal and disciplinary processes
  • Redundancy claims and redundancy processes
  • Discrimination claims
  • Claims about maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave and flexible working
  • TUPE and business transfer disputes
  • Equal Pay claims
  • Breach of contract claims
  • Wrongful dismissal claims
  • Negligent references
  • Unauthorised deduction from wages;
  • Restrictive covenants and confidential information (including drafting, advising on enforceability and seeking or defending injunctions)
  • Compromise agreements, settlement agreements, termination agreements or advisor’s certificates
  • Grievance and disciplinary hearings
  • Public Interest Disclosure and “Whistleblowing” claims
  • Internal and professional regulatory hearings.

In addition to our comprehensive service in terms of advocacy and representation, members of the team are happy to provide written and telephone advice, to draft and advise on contracts of employment (including advice on changing terms and conditions of employment) and to offer tactical advice on handling and avoiding employment and other workplace disputes.

Members of the team regularly deliver seminars and write articles on employment law and related topics as part of a Chambers-wide programme of continuing professional development. We are happy to offer tailored in-house lectures for solicitors, in-house legal teams, advice agencies and other clients on topics of specific interest to them.

Details of any individual member’s experience and speciality can be obtained from the CV sections of this site. Alternatively, our clerks will be pleased to assist directly with any particular or bespoke enquiry. Should you wish to instruct a member of the Employment Team or make an enquiry, please contact our Employment Clerk, Hilary Foster, our Civil Managing Clerk Jason Roukin, or another member of our clerking team. 
 

Employment team

Suzanne Palmer

Suzanne Palmer

Head of Employment Team

Call: 1995

Piers Martin

Piers Martin

Call: 1997

Chris Bryden

Chris Bryden

Joint Deputy Head of Chambers, Head of Family and Property Teams

Call: 2003

Tori Adams

Tori Adams

Call: 2016

Hilary Foster

Hilary Foster

Civil Clerk