Carol Davis QC

Jason Drakeford

Senior Clerk

Email: jason@littletonchambers.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7797 8623

Ian Smethurst

Practice Manager

Email: ian@littletonchambers.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7936 5016

Tracy Thomson

Practice Manager

Email: tracy@littletonchambers.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7797 8622

Practice areas

Carol took Silk in 2021 having been recognised for many years by Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 as a leading practitioner in employment litigation and professional discipline.

Carol has a recognised expertise in discrimination law and high-value employment tribunal litigation, commercial employment matters in the High Court and regulatory work, with a particular emphasis on financial services. She specialises in extremely confidential and sensitive matters and is highly sought after by major UK and multinational corporations, banking and other financial institutions, and public authorities for large-scale discrimination and whistleblowing cases and independent internal investigations, hearings and appeals.

Over the years Carol has been described by the legal directories as “unflappable on her feet and razor sharp in cross-examination”. She is “dedicated and tenacious” and “the kind of person you want to have in your corner.” Carol “oozes gravitas and has a fantastic eye for detail” and she is “a tenacious advocate who has an excellent client manner and is able to master and understand the issues and commercial considerations quickly.” She has also been described as “exceptionally bright, strategically astute and thoroughly charming.”

The latest editions of the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners describe Carol as follows:

“Carol is an experienced and fearsome advocate, but she has an excellent manner with clients. She is extremely responsive, thorough, and she often goes above and beyond to attend to her client’s needs.”
“She is a joy to work with, she is brilliant in writing and she is awesome in tribunal.”
“Excellent – she combines calmness, clarity and experience, clearly analyses complicated issues and facts well, and inspires confidence.”
“She is a very personable, excellent advocate, with a pragmatic approach.”
“She has the ability to find both the right tone and to home in on the detail. Her written work is excellent, and she is good on her feet as well.”
“Excellent knowledge of employment law, thorough preparation, leaves no stone unturned.”
“She’s fantastic: absolutely calm, impressive and authoritative.”
“Very well organised and super responsive.”

Discrimination

Commercial Employment

Whistleblowing and Other Statutory Claims

Discipinary and Regulatory

Carol is Head of Littleton’s Disciplinary and Regulatory Group.

She regularly advises and appears at internal grievance and disciplinary panels in both the private and the public sector. She also has considerable experience of acting as an independent investigating oﬃcer and has experience of investigating diverse grievance and disciplinary matters, invariably involving detailed allegations and a wide range of witnesses.

Carol also has a thorough grasp of the SMCR and has lectured widely on the same and advised on a number of complex disciplinary matters in the ﬁnancial services sector.

Carol has been involved in a number of cases before professional regulatory panels. She has advised and defended a wide range of professionals facing investigation or disciplinary action by their regulators. She has dealt with a wide variety of cases, ranging from registration issues to allegations of serious misconduct and has experience of all stages of the process, including interim orders, Appeals and restorations.

Recent work includes:

Conducting an independent investigation into two allegations of sexual assault brought by two Associates against a Partner.
Conducting an independent investigation into a historic allegation of sexual harassment made by a former student against a Professor of a College of the University of Oxford and conducting a review of, and amending, the College’s equality and diversity, sexual harassment and reporting procedures and reporting orally and in writing to the Rector.
Conducting a review of the operations of the department of a leading University and conducting an independent investigation into four individual allegations of bullying, harassment and whistleblowing and reporting orally and in writing to the Registrary.
Instructed by a leading national law ﬁrm to act as an independent investigating oﬃcer investigating a complaint brought by a senior Associate of sexual harassment and discrimination.
Conducting an investigation into a grievance and whistleblowing complaint brought by a senior member of a leading UK University.
Conducting an independent investigation into allegations of bullying and disability discrimination brought by an Associate of an international law firm and reporting in writing.
Conducting an independent investigation into multiple allegations of bullying brought against a Chief Executive of a world-renowned sporting organisation, conducting a general review into its operations and reporting in writing.
Conducting an independent investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination brought by a Senior Fund Manager and reporting in writing.
Conducting an independent investigation into an allegation of race discrimination made to a national charity by an applicant for a Trustee position, conducting a review into the charity’s recruitment processes and reporting in writing.