The UK Supreme Court has granted permission to appeal to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the case of The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia v Costantine (UKSC 2024/0061). Given its importance, the appeal has been expedited to be heard on 6 November 2024 and will be broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s website (here). Meanwhile, many cases have been stayed pending the outcome of this appeal.
The appeal raises ground-breaking issues relating to the nature and scope of the doctrine of state immunity under domestic and international law, its application to employment claims, and the circumstances in which all courts and tribunals are obliged to determine the issue of their own motion.
Mohinderpal Sethi KC, Joel Wallace and Bláthnaid Breslin act for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and are instructed by Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP.
Mohinderpal Sethi K.C. specialises in domestic, international and offshore commercial, employment, partnership and sport litigation and arbitration. He is a Top-Ranked Silk in Chambers (UK and Global) and Legal 500 (UK and EMEA). He won Senior Counsel of the Year (International Employment Lawyer Awards 2023), Employment Silk of the Year (Legal 500 Bar Awards 2023) and Civil Lawyer of the Year (Asian Legal Awards 2022). He is the immediate past Chair of the UK’s Employment Law Bar Association and currently Co-Head of the Middle East Group.
Joel Wallace is ranked in both sports and employment law. He acts across the full range of both disciplines, including arbitration, commercial and contract disputes, business protection, misconduct, doping, whistleblowing, and discrimination. These cases frequently receive press attention. His clients include football clubs, regulators, agents, stock brokerages, consultancy firms and educational institutions.
Bláthnaid Breslin specialises in commercial law and employment cases that raise issues of diplomatic and state immunity and business protection. Bláthnaid also appeared before the Supreme Court in Basfar v Wong [2023] AC 33 (led by Sophia Berry and Mohinderpal Sethi KC) a leading case on diplomatic immunity.
