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Eleena Misra KC

Silk: 2023 | Call: 2001

"An amazing forensic brain and great with clients - she is a real winner. She can think on her feet and is incredibly well prepared whilst being able to handle anything that is thrown at her." "Eleena provides clear and objective expert advice. She is extremely client-friendly and practical." "She is exceptional all round: very approachable and friendly, with outstanding advocacy skills."

Chambers & Partners 2024

"Eleena is an exemplary advocate - her cross-examination skills are fantastic, robust when necessary and empathetic. She is analytical and detail orientated, and a great problem solver. A powerhouse."

The Legal 500 2024

"Eleena is very client friendly and she is an excellent advocate. She has a cool, measured advocacy style, which is very effective."

The Legal 500 2023

Overview

Overview

Eleena Misra KC is a leading Employment & Equalities and Professional Discipline & Regulation barrister acknowledged in the directories as having “developed a strong reputation for handling employment disputes that require specialist knowledge of either the education or healthcare sector” (Chambers & Partners). In addition, she spent the first fifteen years of practice undertaking commercial work, which places her in a unique position in relation to both private and public sector employers and gives her an unusual breadth of strategic insight and experience.

Eleena was called to the Bar in 2001 and took silk in 2023.

She is ranked as a leader in both of her principal practice areas, which are complementary to each other and to the high-quality public law work which Eleena also undertakes.

Eleena regularly appears in tribunals and in the High Court, including at appellate level, having been described by directories as follows and nominated as Employment Law Junior of the Year by Legal 500 in 2022.

Directory observations have included:

“Eleena is very client friendly, and she is an excellent advocate. She has a cool, measured advocacy style, which is very effective.” (Legal 500, 2023)

“She is exceptional all round: very approachable and friendly, with outstanding advocacy skills.” (Chambers & Partners, 2023)

“She is unflappable, a consummate professional, and yet also compassionate and engaging in submission and in cross-examination. She commands the attention and respect of the court and everyone in it.” (Legal 500)

“She has an analytic and forensic mind, and she has an amazing ability to think of arguments and think on her feet.” (Chambers & Partners)

“A very logical and methodical barrister who provides excellent advice, both legal and strategic.” (Chambers & Partners)

In a market crowded with barristers, clients have said, time and again, that Eleena’s strength is her nuanced understanding of how best to apply intelligent solutions to essentially human problems. This depends on careful legal analysis and a way of dealing with parties, clients and witnesses which is borne of years of experience. Clients who regularly seek her advice or advocacy skills span the full range, from City banks to public sector organisations, including the NHS and universities; from celebrities to charities. Indeed, many of her high-profile cases stay out of court (and the press) altogether because of the careful and strategic advice she has given at an early stage, thereby also saving costs. Eleena has resisted being pigeon-holed as a public or private sector barrister and uses her experience of acting for both, as well as being an advocate for claimants and defendants alike, to great tactical advantage.

Eleena is known for her ability to assimilate complex material swiftly and to provide strategic and commercially astute advice. Highly approachable and hands-on, Eleena is valued by solicitors for her calm approach to even the most time pressured and stressful litigation, including short-notice injunctions, as well as sensitive client handling skills. Between 2001 and 2017, Eleena was a pupil and tenant at Littleton Chambers where her practice had a distinctly commercial edge to it, and she obtained substantial experience in injunctive relief including team moves and confidential information claims. It was there that she founded that set’s Professional Discipline & Regulation group, having navigated her own practice towards this field.

Eleena has breadth and depth of expertise in cases with a medical dimension, having acted for numerous health practitioners, the NHS, and associated agencies. These cases have included CESR applications and appeals, fitness to practise concerns, injunctions, actions in the QBD and judicial review, as well as high-profile inquests.

When time permits, Eleena offers lectures and training in all of the main areas of her practice. Recent lectures and talks have included TUPE and Insolvency, Interim Relief, Sexual Harassment in the Workplace and Disability Discrimination.

She is a co-author of Blackstones’ Employment Law Practice (OUP 2023) as well as having written for and contributed to several leading texts over the years, including Atkins on Equal Opportunities and Employment.

Outside of work, Eleena can be found enjoying time with her young family, travelling, supporting, and participating in the performing arts and working on projects close to her heart.

Eleena speaks French and Oriya (Odia) and has a good working knowledge of Hindi and German.

Appointments & Other

  • Eleena was appointed as a fee paid Judge of the Employment Tribunals in 2023 and sits in London East.
  • Eleena is Chair of the Law Reform Committee of the Bar Council.
  • Eleena is an Advocacy Trainer for Middle Temple and Bar Mentor, as well as a qualified Pupil Supervisor.
  • Over several years, Eleena has been an author of Blackstones’ Employment Law Practice (OUP).
  • Eleena founded the first female barristers’ Lean-in Circle in the country and is active in relation to numerous equality and diversity projects including driving forward the Bar Council’s Flexible Working Group in tandem with her chambers.
  • Eleena is a director of a theatre and community arts centre in Surrey.

Professional Recommendations

 

“An amazing forensic brain and great with clients – she is a real winner. She can think on her feet and is incredibly well prepared whilst being able to handle anything that is thrown at her.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“She quickly gets to the heart of the matter and is decisive in her advice.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“Eleena is straightforward and has a no-nonsense approach. She’s focused on getting the best outcome.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“She is a real all-rounder. Superb in a crisis and technically excellent, her manner with claimants and judges alike is great.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“Eleena is brilliant with complex tribunal matters. She is extremely measured, insightful and excellent in her submissions and cross-examination.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“Eleena is a confident and inspiring advocate, with a meticulous eye for detail and very good client care skills.”

The Legal 500 2024

“Eleena is an exemplary advocate – her cross-examination skills are fantastic, robust when necessary and empathetic. She is analytical and detail orientated, and a great problem solver. A powerhouse.”

The Legal 500 2024

“She is exceptional all round: very approachable and friendly, with outstanding advocacy skills.”

Chambers & Partners 2023

“Eleena provides clear and objective expert advice. She is extremely client-friendly and practical.”

Chambers & Partners 2023

“Eleena is excellent with clients.”

Chambers & Partners 2023

“She is very bright and a good advocate.”

Chambers & Partners 2023

“Eleena is very client friendly and she is an excellent advocate. She has a cool, measured advocacy style, which is very effective.”

The Legal 500 2023

“Eleena is extremely responsive, helpful and knowledgeable, and wraps it all up with a calm personality that immediately puts clients at ease. Her manner in tribunal is effective, persuasive and professional. She is a go-to barrister for all complex tribunal matters.” “Eleena is a silk in waiting. She is unflappable, a consummate professional, and yet also compassionate and engaging in submission and in cross-examination. She commands the attention and respect of the court and everyone in it.”

The Legal 500 2022

“Eleena is a robust advocate with a keen eye for detail, and she is a pleasant as an opponent whilst fighting her client’s corner hard.” “She has an analytic and forensic mind, and she has an amazing ability to think of arguments and think on her feet.” “She is approachable, she is user-friendly and she is incisive.”

Chambers & Partners 2022

“Incredibly busy, because she’s so fantastic with clients and authoritative in court.”

Chambers & Partners 2021

“A powerful advocate who puts her client’s case forcefully and persuasively in court, and deals with sensitive issues in a compassionate and realistic manner.” “Eleena is hardworking and eloquent who is a trusted pair of hands when on your side. She is extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic and a delight to work with.”

The Legal 500 2021

“Extremely clever and robust, and extremely thorough.” “A very logical and methodical barrister who provides excellent advice, both legal and strategic.”

Chambers & Partners 2020

“Works tirelessly, quickly grasps the key issues in a case and has a fantastic client manner” “Extremely hard-working and empathetic.”

The Legal 500 2020

“Really clever, bright and efficient. she produces fantastic written work and great advocacy.”

Chambers & Partners 2019

“Reliable and supportive with extraordinary attention to detail.” “Her attitude and passion for the law shines through.”

Legal 500 2018

Expertise

Employment & Discrimination

Professional Regulatory & Discipline

Administrative and Public Law

Commercial Law

Investigations

Inquests & Public Inquiries


Recent and current work

Relevant Work

Key contacts

Samantha Jones

Deputy Senior Clerk
Samantha Jones Telephone Clerk020 7269 0307 Email Clerk
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Out of hours

William Meade (Senior Clerk)

07970 649 755