Serena Crawshay-Williams

Overview

Serena has experience in the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal, County Court and High Court acting for claimants and respondents/defendants.

Before coming to the Bar, Serena taught law at the University of Bristol and worked as a Research Assistant for Professor of Labour Law, Alan Bogg. She is a trained mediator and is accredited by ADR ODR International.

Qualifications

LLM in Public Law, top mark of the year (University of Bristol, 2017)
LLB, First Class (University of Bristol, 2016)

Awards & Prizes

Finalist, Richard Murtagh Memorial Moot (Middle Temple, 2019)
Queen Mother Scholarship (Middle Temple, 2018)
Prize for Law, Gender and Sexuality (University of Bristol, 2017)
Prize for Migration and Work (University of Bristol, 2017)
Prize for Information Technology Law (University of Bristol, 2017)
Winner, Herbert Smith Freehills Postgraduate Moot (University of Bristol, 2017)
Winner, Lawyers Without Borders Debating Competition (University of Bristol, 2017)
K&L Gates Prize for Employment Law (University of Bristol, 2016)

Professional Recommendations

“Serena was just superb. Explained everything to us all and really helped to appease any nerves.”

“I wanted to thank you for all your hard work and support to [the clients]. I spoke with them last night and they reiterated how happy they were with your work”

“Always enjoyable to work together”

“Thank you for your diligence and hard work on this case – I really appreciated it as it was not straight forward. I thought your advice was brilliantly prepared and delivered in a clear and coherent manner. We will be working together again!”

“Extremely clear and cogent submissions. And a very satisfying read for me.”

“Thank you for all your hard work on this… this represents an excellent outcome exceeding my expectations!”

Expertise

Employment & Discrimination

As sole counsel, Serena has represented clients in claims involving: whistleblowing; discrimination, harassment and victimisation under the Equality Act 2010; maternity discrimination; trade union discrimination; industrial action; part-time worker discrimination; ordinary and automatic unfair dismissal; redundancy; holiday pay, breach of contract and unlawful deduction from wages; TUPE; worker status; territorial jurisdictional issues; and applications for strike out, deposit orders and costs.

Serena represents claimants and defendants in the civil courts in matters primarily relating to breach of contract and discrimination. She recently successfully argued for a £53,000 costs order on the indemnity basis in a civil discrimination claim.

Serena is frequently led by senior members of Chambers. Her led work includes the following:

Acted in an EAT appeal, led by Deshpal Panesar KC, in a case concerning race discrimination and the burden of proof in s.136 of the Equality Act 2010 (Leicester City Council v Mrs B Parmar [2024] I.C.R. 1115).
Acted for a group of doctors bringing breach of contract, rectification and unjust enrichment claims in the High Court, led by Jack Mitchell.
Drafted pleadings in a case involving more than 2,000 claimants bringing claims of unlawful inducement, ordinary and automatic unfair dismissal, detriment (s.146(1)(b) TULRCA 1992), and detriment related to a prohibited list (reg 9(1) Blacklists Regulations 2010) for Oliver Segal KC.
Assisted in a whistleblowing claim involving a review of 20,000+ documents in which allegations extending over seven years were made against seven respondents, led by Nadia Motraghi KC.
Drafted witness statements for a whistleblowing claim for Laith Dilaimi and Rebecca Tuck KC.
Drafted pleadings for a high-value sex discrimination claim for Rebecca Tuck KC.
Undertook legal research into Article 1, Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights in the context of a group holiday pay claim for Melanie Tether and Oliver Segal KC.
Assisted in a group holiday pay claim involving novel points regarding the Working Time Regulations 1998, led by Michael Ford KC.
Drafted an advice in respect of a holiday pay claim jointly with Michael Ford KC.
Assisted Jack Mitchell in a high-profile investigation involving discrimination.
Drafted pleadings for a complex whistleblowing claim for Rebecca Tuck KC.

Serena is co-author of the Westlaw Insight articles on: contracts of employment, gratuities and tips, holiday pay, national minimum wage, reinstatement and re-engagement, shop stewards, trade unions, unlawful deductions of wages, wages, and workforce agreements.