Employment and discrimination barristers.
Specialist counsel for claimants and respondents in the employment tribunals, the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Fixed fees agreed in writing before work begins.
Counsel across every area of employment law and discrimination law
Clerk and Counsel is a clerking agency rather than a set of chambers. We place independent counsel on employment law matters across England and Wales, from a single preliminary hearing in a regional tribunal through to multi week discrimination claims and appeals that reach the Court of Appeal. Every instruction is placed on a written fee agreed before work starts, and every enquiry is handled by a named clerk who owns it from first call to hearing.
Discrimination law sits at the harder end of tribunal practice. The statutory framework in the Equality Act 2010 is only half the picture. The rest is evidence, inference and the burden of proof, and the way a tribunal reads a set of facts two years after the events in question. An employment barrister who works in this field week in and week out knows which comparators will survive cross examination, when a section 20 reasonable adjustments case is stronger than a section 15 case, and when a claim is better resolved through judicial mediation than fought to a ten day merits hearing.
We cover the full range of areas of employment law. Unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal and redundancy selection. Discrimination claims on every protected characteristic. Equal pay, job evaluation and material factor defences. Whistleblowing detriment and interim relief. TUPE and collective consultation. Restrictive covenants and confidential information in the High Court. Trade union recognition, blacklisting and detriment for union activities. The panel is deep enough that the employment law issues in your case are matched to counsel who argue them regularly, not to whoever happens to be free.
Employment and discrimination work we place
Discrimination claims
Direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation on grounds of sex, race, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, including failure to make reasonable adjustments and discrimination arising from disability.
Unfair dismissal
Ordinary and automatically unfair dismissal, capability and conduct dismissals, band of reasonable responses arguments, redundancy selection challenges and constructive dismissal founded on breach of trust and confidence.
Equal pay
Equal pay claims, like work and work rated as equivalent, job evaluation studies, comparator selection and material factor defences, including multi claimant litigation against local authorities, NHS trusts and large retailers.
Whistleblowing and detriment
Public interest disclosure claims, interim relief applications on short notice, detriment claims in regulated sectors and the causation questions that decide most whistleblowing cases.
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 collective disputes
Trade union recognition, detriment and dismissal for union activities, blacklisting claims, time off for union duties and the ballot rules that sit around industrial action.
Restrictive covenants
High Court injunctions to restrain breach of covenant, team moves, springboard relief and claims arising from misuse of confidential information and client data taken to a competitor.
Appeals
Grounds of appeal and advocacy in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, onward appeals to the Court of Appeal, and the small number of cases each year that reach the Supreme Court because the statutory scheme needs authoritative reading.
Ranked counsel and strong independent practitioners
Our employment and discrimination panel has depth at every level of call. Junior counsel of three to eight years take preliminary hearings, short unfair dismissal claims and unlawful deduction cases. Senior juniors handle multi day discrimination and whistleblowing trials, equal pay litigation and appellate work. Silks are available for the largest cases, for High Court injunctions and for hearings where the other side has already instructed leading counsel.
Panel members practise from established sets and include counsel recognised for employment and discrimination law from the Legal 500 2023 edition through to the Legal 500 2025 edition, alongside independent practitioners who have built strong tribunal records without the overheads of a traditional set. Several came to the employment bar from in house legal teams, from HR leadership roles or from trade union legal departments, which shows in how quickly 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 tell you when that is the case rather than sell you the most expensive name on the list.
Claimants and respondents, public sector and private sector
We place counsel for claimants and respondents in similar volumes, and that balance is deliberate. Barristers who spend one week defending a discrimination claim for a national employer and the next week running an equal pay case for a group of claimants give sharper advice on risk and settlement than counsel who only ever see one side of the file.
On the claimant side we are instructed by employees dismissed after long service, by senior executives negotiating an exit and the terms of a settlement agreement, by professionals facing regulatory consequences alongside a dismissal, and by trade union legal departments and the firms who act for them. On the respondent side we act for private sector employers from owner managed businesses to listed groups, and across the public sector for NHS trusts, local authorities, schools and academy trusts, universities, emergency services and central government bodies.
Public sector work brings its own texture. Equal pay exposure across large workforces, disability discrimination claims where occupational health evidence is contested, whistleblowing claims in clinical settings, and collective consultation duties during restructuring. Counsel used to acting for local authorities understand the political and reputational pressure that runs alongside the legal analysis.
Employment tribunals, the EAT and the appellate courts
Most 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 hearings. Onward appeals go to the Court of Appeal, and each year a small number of employment and discrimination cases 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 misuse of confidential information are heard in the High Court, usually in the Business and Property Courts or the King's Bench Division, and often on very short notice.
Clerking that goes 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 listing moves 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, including the 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.
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, and longer matters are quoted stage by stage so you are never asked to commit to a trial budget at the advice stage.
Related pages worth reading before you instruct include our employment barristers hub, our employment mediation service for cases that should settle, and direct access barristers if you are instructing without a solicitor.
Employment and discrimination barristers by tribunal region
Employment and discrimination counsel, common questions
What does an employment barrister do in a discrimination claim?
An employment barrister advises on the merits of discrimination claims, drafts the claim form, response, list of issues and schedule of loss, and appears as advocate at preliminary hearings and full merits hearings in the employment tribunals. Panel counsel also take appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and, where a point of general public importance arises, the Supreme Court.
Can I instruct counsel without a solicitor?
Yes. Under the Public Access scheme an employee, a senior executive or an employer can instruct counsel directly for written advice, drafting and tribunal representation. Where the case involves heavy disclosure or a large witness pool we will say so and recommend a solicitor alongside counsel.
Do you act for claimants and respondents?
We place counsel for claimants and respondents in roughly equal measure, acting for individuals, private sector employers of every size, NHS trusts, local authorities and trade union backed claimants. Conflict checks are run before any shortlist is sent.
How much does a discrimination barrister cost?
Written advice 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.
Are your barristers ranked?
Panel members include counsel recognised in the Legal 500 2023 through to the Legal 500 2025 for employment law and discrimination law, alongside independent practitioners with strong tribunal records. Rankings are one signal among several when we shortlist.