James represents a wide variety of claimants and respondents in the Employment Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the High Court in employment disputes. He advises and has litigated in court for major government entities including the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Registrar of Companies. He has acted for corporate and other private clients including the University of Leicester and the Motorola Group, as well as for individuals and several unions in claimant-based work.
James is an experienced advocate in:
- Unfair and wrongful dismissal claims
- Discrimination and Equality Act 2010 claims
- Restrictive covenant claims
- Redundancy claims
- National Minimum Wage disputes
- TUPE (transfer of undertakings) disputes
- Unlawful wage deduction claims
- Armed Forces Service personnel and Service Complaint claims
- Reserve Forces Appeal claims
- Tribunal jurisdiction and procedural disputes.
Notable recent cases include:
Chauhan v University of Leicester [2023] EAT 112: James acted for the respondent University, successfully resisting an appeal involving the correct approach to interpreting Unless Orders in the Employment Tribunal and a challenge to the judge’s understanding of the Unless Order discretion;
Rubery v Ministry of Defence (2022, ET), currently under appeal in the EAT, on the jurisdiction of the Employment Tribunal to adjudicate discrimination claims arising from the Armed Forces’ service complaint process;
T v Ministry of Defence (2021) on whether a procedural bar to service personnel bringing employment claims violated Art 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and required reading down under the Human Rights Act 1998;
Bogdan v Cabinet Office (2022), now under appeal in the EAT, in which James successfully defended the Cabinet Office in a two-week trial by a senior civil servant alleging institutional discrimination against her on race grounds in wage and promotion patterns;
Kerton v Morris (2022), a Reserve Forces Appeal Tribunal appeal concerning a reservist’s remuneration while deployed remotely in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A sample of previous cases include:
RSS Wessex (Rubicon People) v Dawson [2013] EWHC 2309 (QB), in which James obtained a High Court interim injunction in unusual circumstances against a former recruitment manager alleged to be competing with his former employer via LinkedIn networking;
Rawson v Robert Norman Associates UKEAT/0199/13/RN on the correct approach to determining liability and remedy in employer’s breach of contract claims in the Employment Tribunal;
Ségor v Goodrich Actuation Systems UKEAT/0145/11/DM in which James successfully acted pro bono for a claimant working in the military technology industry alleging nationality discrimination, in an appeal determining the correct approach for tribunals where party seeks (or appears) to abandon a part of its claim.
