Employment barristers.
Specialist employment counsel for claimants and respondents in the employment tribunals, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the appellate courts. Fixed fees agreed in writing before work begins.
Specialist employment counsel for tribunals and appeals
Clerk and Counsel is a clerking agency, not a set of chambers. We place independent employment barristers on work across England and Wales, from a single preliminary hearing in a regional tribunal through to multi week discrimination trials and appeals that reach the Court of Appeal. Our employment team of panel counsel covers the full range of employment law, and every instruction is placed on a written fee agreed before any work starts.
Employment work is unusual in how quickly it moves between the technical and the human. One case turns on the construction of a restrictive covenant and the misuse of confidential information taken to a competitor. The next turns on whether a dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses, or whether a manager said what a witness says he said in a corridor two years ago. The employment barristers we place are chosen because they handle both registers well, and because they know when a claim should be settled rather than fought.
We act for claimants and respondents in similar volumes. That mix matters. Counsel who spend their week arguing both sides of unfair dismissal and discrimination claims give sharper advice on risk than counsel who only ever see one side of the file. Our panel is instructed by individual employees, by senior executives negotiating an exit, by private sector employers of every size, by NHS trusts and local authorities, and by trade union legal departments and the solicitors who act for them.
The full range of employment law work
Unfair and constructive dismissal
Ordinary and automatically unfair dismissal, capability and conduct dismissals, redundancy selection challenges and constructive dismissal claims arising from breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.
Discrimination and harassment
Claims under the Equality Act 2010 covering sex, race, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, including reasonable adjustments, victimisation and harassment.
Equal pay
Equal pay claims and job evaluation disputes, including multi claimant equal pay litigation against local authorities, NHS trusts and large private sector employers, with material factor defences and comparator arguments.
Whistleblowing and detriment
Public interest disclosure claims, interim relief applications, detriment and dismissal claims in regulated sectors, and the causation questions that decide most whistleblowing cases.
Restrictive covenants and confidential information
High Court injunctions to restrain breach of covenant, team moves, springboard relief and claims arising from the misuse of confidential information and client data.
TUPE and collective consultation
Service provision changes, outsourcing and insourcing, information and consultation failures, protective award claims and collective redundancy consultation under section 188.
Trade union and industrial relations
Trade union recognition, blacklisting, detriment for union activities, time off for union duties, and the industrial action and ballot rules that sit around collective disputes.
Appeals and higher courts
Grounds of appeal and advocacy in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, onward appeals to the Court of Appeal, and cases raising a point of general public importance that reach the Supreme Court.
Strength in depth across the employment bar
Our employment panel has strength in depth at every level of call. Junior counsel of three to eight years take preliminary hearings, short unfair dismissal claims and wages act cases. Senior juniors handle multi day discrimination and whistleblowing trials, equal pay litigation and appeals. Silks are available for the largest cases, for High Court injunction work and for appellate hearings where the other side has already instructed leading counsel.
Panel members practise from established sets, including counsel recognised in Chambers UK and the Legal 500 for employment work, alongside independent practitioners who have built strong tribunal records without the overheads of a traditional set. Some came to the employment bar from in house legal teams or from HR leadership roles, which shows in how they read a grievance file or a disciplinary bundle.
Rankings are one signal among several. When a case comes in we shortlist by hearing date, tribunal region, subject matter, the seniority of the opponent and the budget. A discrete point on a material factor defence may be better served by a specialist junior than a generalist silk, and we will say so.
Clerking teams that go the extra mile
Most complaints about instructing counsel are not about advocacy. They are about clerking. Fee quotes that arrive three days late, papers that go unacknowledged, a returned brief on the Friday before a Monday hearing. Traditional clerking teams juggle hundreds of practitioners across dozens of practice areas, and employment work sits in the queue with everything else.
We run a small clerking operation built around response times. Every enquiry gets a named clerk, a same day acknowledgement, a shortlist with availability and fees, and a written client care letter before any work begins. If a hearing date moves or a listing changes we tell you before you have to chase. Going the extra mile on the administrative side is the reason most of our instructing solicitors come back.
For Public Access clients we handle the parts of the process that are unfamiliar. That includes the initial suitability assessment, identity checks, the scope of the retainer, and a clear explanation of what counsel can and cannot do without a solicitor. Where litigation conduct is needed, we say so at the outset rather than halfway through.
Employment tribunals, the EAT and the appellate courts
Most employment claims start in one of the regional employment tribunals in England and Wales, from London Central and London South through to Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle. Preliminary and case management hearings are now routinely conducted by video, which keeps travel costs down and makes specialist counsel practical wherever the claim is listed.
Appeals on a point of law go to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, which sits at the Rolls Building in London and in Edinburgh, with remote attendance available for most hearings. Panel counsel draft grounds of appeal, advise on the prospects of permission, and appear at both preliminary and full appeal hearings. From there, onward appeals go to the Court of Appeal, and a small number of employment cases each year reach the Supreme Court where the point at issue affects how the statutory scheme is read nationally.
Injunction work sits outside the tribunal system. Applications to restrain breach of restrictive covenants or the use of confidential information are heard in the High Court, usually in the Business and Property Courts or the King's Bench Division, often on short notice.
Fixed fees agreed in writing
Written advice on merits and quantum typically runs between five hundred and one thousand five hundred pounds plus VAT depending on the volume of documents and the number of claims in play. Drafting a claim form, a response, a schedule of loss or a list of issues usually falls between seven hundred and two thousand two hundred pounds plus VAT.
Preliminary and case management hearings start at around six hundred pounds plus VAT. Full merits hearings run from about one thousand two hundred pounds plus VAT per day for junior counsel through to three thousand pounds plus VAT per day for senior specialist counsel, with refreshers after day one. Employment Appeal Tribunal work and High Court injunctions are quoted case by case.
Longer or staged matters are quoted stage by stage so you are never asked to commit to a full trial budget at the advice stage. Nothing is charged that has not been agreed first.
Employment barristers by tribunal region
Employment barristers, common questions
What does an employment barrister do?
An employment barrister advises on the merits of a claim, drafts the claim form, response, list of issues and witness statements, and appears as advocate at preliminary hearings and full merits hearings in the employment tribunals. Members of our panel also handle appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and, in rare cases raising a point of general public importance, the Supreme Court.
Can I instruct an employment barrister without a solicitor?
Yes. Under the Public Access scheme an employee, a senior executive or an employer can instruct employment counsel directly for written advice, drafting and tribunal representation. Where a case involves heavy disclosure, a large witness pool or ongoing correspondence we will say so and recommend a solicitor alongside counsel rather than take work that is not suitable.
Do you act for employers as well as employees?
We place counsel for claimants and respondents in roughly equal measure. Panel members act for individuals, for private sector employers of every size, for NHS trusts and local authorities, and for trade union backed claimants. Conflict checks are run before any shortlist is sent out.
How much does an employment barrister cost?
Written advice on merits and quantum typically runs between five hundred and one thousand five hundred pounds plus VAT. Preliminary hearings start at around six hundred pounds plus VAT. Full merits hearings run from about one thousand two hundred pounds plus VAT per day for junior counsel to three thousand pounds plus VAT per day for senior specialist counsel, with refreshers after day one.
How quickly can counsel be instructed?
For urgent work such as interim relief, a strike out application or a short notice preliminary hearing, counsel can usually be engaged within twenty four to seventy two hours once conflict checks clear. Full merits hearings are booked to the tribunal timetable.