Employment
answer questions. Youwork with lots of different people and ultimately pick upways of working that are sustainable and successful by observing their habits and practices.” Asmorgasbord of a practice area If variety really is the spice of life, then consider employment practice at the Bar a feast of flavour. “I do the full gambit of employment work,” says Rachel, “fromdiscrimination claims to claims concerning deduction from wages, fromunfair dismissal claims to claims concerning trade unions. One of the things that attractedme to employment law is thewide range of cases you can bring to tribunal.” It is a highly technical and fast-moving practice area – Rachel points to the constant flowof important, precedent-setting employment decisions from theCourt of Appeal and the SupremeCourt –whichmakes it crucial for successful and efficient employment counsel to keep abreast of the changes and ensure they’re always on top of the lawas it stands on any given day. The future looks…busy As to themost prominent and pressing issues in the field, Rachel notes that “the employment tribunal system is under-resourced – evidenced by themassive backlog of cases.”While this was a problem that existed prior to the pandemic, it has only been exacerbated by covid-19 because “therewas a three-month periodwhere no in-person hearings were taking place andmost final hearings were postponed. It took some time for the employment tribunal system to roll out online services so hearings could take place virtually – this is happening fairly successfully now, but the substantial backlog remains.” There is a lot of pressure on the system to get through the cases and Rachel warns that “peoplewill lose faith in the system” if they have to continue towait long periods for claims to be heard. “It is becoming a substantial access to justice issue,” she adds.
Apopularmisconception is that this area of law is just about employment contracts. In fact, employment lawyers handle a variety of issues, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, redundancy, equal pay andwhistleblowing claims, aswell asHigh Court claims arising out of the employment relationship. There has been a big increase in employment lawcases in recent years, due to a combination of newEuropean legislation, government policies and employees’ increased awareness of their work-related rights. Old SquareChambers tenant Rachel Owusu- Agyei was pretty certain fromearly in her undergraduate degree that shewanted to pursue the Bar, but ever keen to challenge her own perceptions, took a less straightforward route: she tried her hand at the solicitor’s side first, doing a law firmvacation scheme and subsequently working for a year as a paralegal in the employment department of a largeCity firm. Both experiences proved eye-opening, but ultimately confirmed her original aspirations. “They were excellent opportunities to see the practice from the other side. I could seewhat needs to be done over the lifetime of a claimand everything that happens before the final stage when a barrister becomes involved. But as you progress as a solicitor, there is generally less law andmore business, more dealingwith clients; whereas when you develop as a barrister, you deal morewith the law itself and do not have to spend asmuch time on client management; your work becomesmore complex and, inmy opinion, more interesting.” She enjoyed her pupillage at Old Square. “Pupillage anywhere is a little strange as a concept: you spend sixmonths trying to learn by osmosis and sixmonths learning by doing something you’ve never done before – you’re thrown into the deep end, basically. But I’ve been fortunate in that all the practitioners with whom I workedwere good at giving feedback, incredibly friendly and always prepared to
Rachel also highlights the significant impact that last year’s protests following themurder of
For more chambers that work in this practice area, please use the ‘Pupillage index’.
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