Daniel Northall KC

Daniel has significant experience of employment based contractual litigation in the High Court. He routinely appears in both the King’s Bench and Chancery Division of the High Court in breach of employment contract and employee competition cases, including in relation to injunction applications. His experience in this area includes the misuse of confidential information, the interpretation and enforceability and post-termination restrictions, including their discharge by the employer’s breach, team moves, diversion of business opportunities, breach of fiduciary duty by statutory directors and damages claims.

Daniel receives instructions spanning the full-range of urgency, from non-contentious advice on the enforceability of contractual restrictions, to next-day without notice applications.

He is well-used to providing the speed, efficiency and insight which this litigation demands. He is quick to focus on the key points and provide solution-focused advice that is free of flannel and academic debate.

Very recent instructions include the following:

• Providing quick advice and support for, and representation at, urgent injunction proceedings on behalf of a specialist retail business caused serious harm by a competing business set up by current and former employee through flagrant misuse of confidential information.
• Advising a private equity house on long-running proceedings concerning the enforceability of post-acquisition covenants within both employment contracts and shareholder agreements.
• Advising a leading fintech business faced with the misappropriation of confidential information taken by employees hired by a competitor, including proceedings for injunctive relief.
• Advising an insurer on the protection of its business from the threat posed by a competing enterprise established by its former senior executives. Included unusual advice on the effect of TUPE on the survival of post-termination restrictive covenants and advising on strategy in a fast-moving civil procedural position.
• Advising and representing an alternative investment business on injunction proceedings to obtain springboard relief to restrain former employees from establishing a competing business. Included allegations of fraud and uncommon arguments on the evidence required in support of the cross-undertaking as to damages.

Daniel is routinely instructed on matters most conveniently described as “boardroom bust ups” in which he is instructed by (often but not exclusively) founder executives whose influence over the business is in the process of being removed by other stakeholders. These disputes often involve an analysis of the complex interplay between statutory and contractual employment rights, directors’ duties, shareholder rights (including remedies for unfair prejudice), and the proper governance of the company, either within the articles or another agreement. Such disputes require experience, a command of the moving parts and an ability to develop a clear-sighted strategy.

Daniel is also experienced in advising on leaver provisions of all forms, including the often difficult issues that arise in connection with deferred compensation and post-termination restrictions.

Very recent instructions include:

• Very heavy and hard fought unfair prejudice litigation in the Insolvency and Companies Court involving multi-week hearings for both liability and remedy trials.
• Advising a senior executive in the energy investment sector on an exit strategy to maximise the financial value of his interest, in the face of a hostile exclusion and threat to dilute his interest.
• Advising a senior banker of his entitlement to restricted stock units under a scheme governed by foreign law, following the former employer’s attempt to prevent vesting post-termination.
• Advising a founder executive of a property investment company following her exclusion by a non-executive investor, including in relation to ongoing proceedings for unfair prejudice.

Daniel has rare knowledge and experience of the employment law implications of corporate insolvency. He has been instructed in connection with some of the largest corporate insolvencies of recent times, including by the Official Receiver and the appointed Special Managers in respect of the compulsory liquidation of the Carillion group of companies, believed to be the largest corporate insolvency within the UK.

Daniel’s instructions often concern the most demanding aspects of the interplay between insolvency and employment law, including the adoption of employment contracts, the effect of compulsory liquidation on the continuation of employment, the ranking of debts, the limit of collective consultation obligations in an insolvency context and the special circumstances defence available to an insolvent employer (or those who act on its behalf).

Daniel is used to being consulted at an early stage of the insolvency and providing assistance in the development of a wider strategy, including in relation to the efficient management of collective claims (typically numbering in the thousands).

Daniel is regularly instructed by both LLPs and partnerships (typically professional services firms) on work ranging from non-contentious advice to substantial “bet the firm” disputes.

His practice covers disputes litigated in arbitration, the Chancery Division of the High Court and the Employment Tribunal. His experience of each forum allows him to provide a joined up approach to strategy that is both rare and invaluable.

Daniel has particular expertise in all issues related to termination of membership, whether through expulsion or compulsory retirement. He is able to provide all-encompassing advice as to the grounds for termination under the LLP/partnership agreement, due process and legal and financial risk. He can provide ad hoc advice on managing difficult partners/members on a day to day basis.

Daniel also has significant experience of the practicalities of partner/member exits and post-exit issues, including payments due to partners/members on termination and the enforceability and enforcement of post-termination restrictions.

Daniel is an expert litigator in the employment tribunal and has been recognised as such from an early stage of his career.

He typically acts for PLCs, medium to large businesses, executives, high net worth individuals, public sector bodies and Government departments. He is particularly noted for his forensic skills and his ability to cut through litigation which is legally complex and information heavy.

Daniel’s instructions in the employment tribunal ordinarily concern high stakes and high value claims of whistleblowing and discrimination, typically within the financial services and insurance sectors.

Daniel also has uncommonly deep experience in the making and defending of interim relief applications in the employment tribunal. He is well used to advising and working under the pressures of time that such applications demand.

Daniel also has significant experience in advising on industrial relations and collective employment rights, including the protection of the employer’s economic and reputational interests during periods of threatened and actual industrial action, and advice on trade union recognition, both voluntary and statutory through application to the Central Arbitration Committee.

Recent instructions have included:

• Acting for a senior banker in respect of factually and legally demanding claims of protected disclosure detriment and dismissal, pursued against a major international bank.
• Acting for a major food retailer in response to group applications for interim relief following the collective dismissals for staff following their participation in unofficial strike action.
• Acting for a leading hospitality business in respect of group claims brought by senior staff for TUPE-related payments and liabilities following a business acquisition.
• Acting for the Official Receiver (instructed by the appointed Special Managers) in relation to group employment litigation arising out of the corporate collapse of Carillion, the largest corporate insolvency in UK history.
• Representing an international business at the remedy stage of a claim following the employment tribunal’s finding of victimisation. (Daniel did not represent the Respondent at the liability stage). The Claimant sought approximately £2m in compensation.
• Representing two disabled trainee doctors in separate litigation in England and Scotland in addressing the disadvantages they alleged were inherent in the training regime. The claims required complex legal argument and a detailed understanding of the multi-party training arrangements for doctors which exist in England and Scotland.
• Advising and representing an incorporated former partnership on employment litigation involving hundreds of allegations of discrimination and an associated shareholder dispute proceeding in the High Court.
• Representing and advising an international conglomerate in response to allegations of trade union victimisation and threatened industrial action.
• Representing a senior manager in the oil industry alleging sex and maternity discrimination.
• Representing a senior executive in the insurance industry alleging protected disclosure detriment and dismissal and race discrimination.

Daniel has a busy appellate practice and frequently appears in the EAT in appeals where he was not instructed at first instance.

Recent instructions have included:

• Advising a leading high street retailer on a resisted application for trade union recognition, including assistance in the Court of Appeal. The appeal addressed the tension between a trade union’s Article 11 rights and the statutory recognition regime contained in Schedule A1 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
• Representing HMRC in relation to an appeal providing significant development of the law on early conciliation and its effect on extending time limits.
• Led by Mark Sutton QC, an appeal examining the tripartite training arrangements between a trainee doctor, NHS England and the employing NHS Trust.
• Representing an international business in response to appeals against a complex remedy judgment awarding long-term loss.

Previous appearances in the EAT have resulted in judgments providing significant advancement of the law, including in relation to the strike out of claims, implied terms in employment contracts, the application of Regulation 4 of TUPE, discrimination on the grounds of marital status and the use of warnings in the dismissal of employees.

Daniel is an experienced and well-regarded commercial litigator instructed routinely as sole counsel on a range of business disputes, including contractual disputes, commercial fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, shareholder disputes and disputes between directors or other senior employees.

Daniel is noted for his keen analytical skills twinned with his ability to provide pragmatic, sensible advice which clients value. He appreciates that a successful outcome is normally due to hard work and a willingness to work as part of a team with his solicitor and lay clients. He is prepared to act at short notice to provide advice, drafting and representation where, for example, an interim injunction is required.

Recent instructions have included the following:

• A multi-day trial in the Circuit Commercial Court on behalf of a senior executive seeking recovery of unpaid bonus and notice in breach of contract.
• Advising and representing a former senior executive in the automotive industry on claims pursued against him for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Advising a corporate investor in relation to potential claims for professional negligence in relation to advice to invest in high risk film investment schemes given by its former accountants and tax advisers.
• A multi-day trial concerning the beneficial interest in a Seychellois property concerning breach of trust, asset tracing and equitable compensation.
• Advising the former directors and shareholders of a company in the care sector on their rights as minority shareholders in relation to claims for breach of a shareholders’ agreement and unfair prejudice.

Daniel has also developed particular expertise in insolvency law, both personal and corporate, with a particular focus on bankruptcy and the administration and liquidation of companies. He has extensive trial experience of related issues, including the enforceability of guarantees and other financial instruments on the grounds of purview, misrepresentation, duress and mis-selling.

Daniel has been a keen follower of sport since childhood and so the interaction between sport and the law is a natural progression to his career.

He has undertaken a number of high profile sports related instructions, including:

• The pursuit of Rule K arbitration alleging breach of contract for unpaid wages and bonuses on behalf of a member of senior management within a Premier League football club.

• Advising a senior commercial manager within a Premer League football club on strategy and financial entitlement following a proposal to terminate his employment on the grounds of redundancy.

• Assisting in the representation of a Championship football manager in disciplinary proceedings brought against him by his then club;

• Representing a rugby club in the Aviva Premiership in response to claims of disability discrimination, breach of contract and unfair dismissal brought by a former player; and

• Representing a director of a Premier League club in respect of claims of unfair dismissal and breach of contract.

Daniel is a devout supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers, arguably the antithesis of glory hunting (although less so these days).

Law, Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge