Georgina has built a thriving trial, appellate, drafting and advisory employment & discrimination practice and enjoys repeat instructions from loyal clients at tier 1 Claimant, Senior Executive and Respondent employment firms. She acts in novel, complex and high value litigation at first instance and on appeal.
She is an experienced trial and appellate advocate and has appeared unled in over 30 employment & discrimination trials up to 4 weeks in length, twice unled in the EAT and twice led in the Court of Appeal in precedent setting litigation that has shaped employment law.
She acts for Claimants, Senior Executives and Respondents across a range of sectors, in the full spectrum of individual, collective, commercial and international employment law as well as discrimination law in employment (including Equal Pay disputes), education, goods and services and sports disputes.
Her work has an increasing focus on whistleblowing and Equality Act claims (including Equal Pay), employment status and jurisdictional disputes, working with clients in the financial services, professional services, fintech, private equity, media, tech, insurance, NHS, higher education, charity and civil service sectors. Her clients strongly benefit from her balanced practice, which is split roughly 50/50 between Claimant/Senior Executive and Respondent work.
A selection of Georgina’s trial, appellate and advisory experience is set out below.
APPELLATE WORK
Court of Appeal
Georgina has experience appearing as junior counsel and drafting grounds of appeal, skeleton arguments and costs protection applications in appeals.
- Ibrahim v HCA International Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 2007 (led by Jeremy Lewis KC). Appeal clarifying the operation of the subjective limb of the public interest test in Chesterton v Nurmohamed [Whistleblowing].
- Gomes v Higher Level Care Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 418(led). This is the leading case on compensation for breaches of the Working Time Directive and was one of Michael Rubenstein’s top employment cases to watch owing to the case’s significant implications for the protection of workers’ rights. Georgina acted at all stages of proceedings [Working Time].
- Chesterton Global Ltd v Nurmohamed [2017] EWCA Civ 979 (as a judicial assistant). Whistleblowing appeal concerning the public interest test under s43A ERA 1996 [Whistleblowing].
- Interim Executive Board of Al Harij School v Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills [2017] EWCA Civ 1787 (as a judicial assistant). Discrimination appeal concerning the concept of direct mirrored sex discrimination and segregation in schools [Discrimination].
- Brogden v Investec Bank Plc [2016] EWCA Civ 1031 (as a judicial assistant). Breach of contract appeal concerning bankers’ bonuses [Commercial, Breach of Contract].
Employment Appeal Tribunal
Owing to her prior experience as a Law Lecturer and experience working as a Judicial Assistant in the Court of Appeal, Georgina is often instructed as sole counsel to draft grounds of appeal, skeleton arguments and to appear unled in the EAT. Her recent experience includes being:
- Appearing unled in the EAT in an appeal concerning the scope of the principle in Hogg v Dover College (judgment awaited).
- Instructed to advise on and draft grounds of appeal across the full spectrum of statutory employment and discrimination law.
- Successfully obtaining permission to appeal to the EAT in a case concerning the meaning of “related to” under s18 of the Equality Act, to be heard in 2023 where Georgina will appear unled (Equality Act Claims).
- Wilkinson v DVSA [2022] EAT 23 (unled) Georgina appeared for the successful appellant in challenging the ET’s findings in respect of reductions to the compensatory award for contributory conduct [Unfair Dismissal – Contributory Conduct & Polkey reductions].
- Gomes v Higher Level Care [2016] IRLR 678 (unled). This is the leading case on compensation for breaches of the Working Time Directive and was one of Michael Rubenstein’s top employment cases to watch owing to the case’s significant implications for the protection of workers’ rights [Working Time].
TRIALS & TRIBUNAL ADVOCACY
Georgina is regularly instructed as sole counsel in heavy duty multi week whistleblowing and discrimination and Equal pay trials, or complex employment status or jurisdictional disputes, where she acts for both Respondents and Claimants/Senior Executives. She often appears against significantly more senior counsel and has acted unled in trials up to 4 weeks in length. Examples of her current and recent work acting as sole counsel include:
- Acting for the Respondent, a national charity, in a 16-day direct race discrimination, direct religious discrimination, harassment, discrimination arising from disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments and victimisation trial (ongoing) [Equality Act claims – Disability, Race, Religion].
- Successfully appearing unled in the Employment Tribunal in a 7-day direct race discrimination and harassment trial, acting for the Respondent brokerage house operating in the financial services sector. The Claimant made a drop hands settlement following Georgina’s cross examination. The Tribunal went on to make specific findings that the Claimant had not been truthful, and the matter is proceeding to a costs hearing. (Equality Act claims). [Equality Act Claims-Race, Unfair Dismissal-Conduct, Capability, SOSR, Wrongful Dismissal].
- Acting for the Claimant, a firefighter, in an 8-day direct disability discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, victimisation, harassment, unfair dismissal and unlawful deduction from wages trial [Unfair Dismissal, Equality Act claims – Disability, Unauthorised Deductions].
- Acting for the Claimant, an Accountant working in the tech sectorin a 7-day direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination, unfavourable treatment on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity, automatic unfair dismissal and ordinary unfair dismissal trial (ongoing (Equality Act and MAPLE 1999 Regs claims).
- Acting for a Claimant working in the Higher Education sector, in a 7-day direct disability discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments, harassment, and unauthorised deduction from wages trial. The deductions amounted to 63% of the Claimant’s income over a 2-year period [Equality Act Claims – Disability, Unauthorised Deductions].
- Acting for the Respondent, a Global Insurer in a 6-day direct disability discrimination, indirect disability discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and unfair dismissal trial [Equality Act Claims Disability, Unfair Dismissal – Redundancy].
- Acting for the Claimant, a Senior Executive working in the Charity sector in a 6-day direct sex discrimination and harassment trial [Equality Act Claims – Sex].
- Acting for the Respondent, a Global Marketing agency in the publishing sector, in a 6-day sex discrimination, disability discrimination, harassment and failure to make reasonable adjustments trial [Equality Act claims – Sex & Disability].
- Acting for the Claimant, a senior manager working in the scientific research and tech sector in a 6-day automatic unfair dismissal for asserting statutory rights to paternity leave and ordinary unfair dismissal trial [Automatic Unfair Dismissal-Statutory Paternity Rights, Ordinary Unfair Dismissal].
- Acting for the Claimant working in the banking sector in a 5-day direct sex discrimination, discrimination by association, victimisation and sexual harassment case [Equality Act Claims-Sex].
- Acting for the Respondent working in the media sector in a 4-day indirect sex discrimination, harassment and unfair dismissal trial [Equality Act Claims – Sex, Unfair Dismissal – Conduct].
- Successfully acting for the Claimant working in the care sector in a 4-day employment status, working time, unauthorised deduction of wages, breach of contract and holiday pay trial. [Employment Status, Working Time, Breach of Contract, Unauthorised Deductions].
- Successfully acting for the Respondent operating in the leisure sector in a 3-day whistleblowing, unfair dismissal and holiday pay trial [Whistleblowing, Unfair Dismissal-Conduct, Working Time].
- Successfully acting for the Respondent in a 2-day preliminary hearing on employee and worker status [Employment Status].
- Acting for the Claimant Director and 50% shareholder in the Respondent Company, in a 2-day preliminary hearing surrounding employee and worker status [Employment Status].
- Successfully acting for the Claimant, a peripatetic worker operating in the security services and based in Afghanistan in seeking to establish Jurisdiction in the Employment Tribunal to bring a claim of unfair dismissal [Jurisdiction].
DRAFTING & ADVISORY
Georgina is regularly instructed to draft statements of case and grounds of appeal in all manner of statutory employment and discrimination disputes, as well as being instructed to advise on the merits of claims and appeals at a later stage. Examples of her current and recent work include being:
- Advising an employee in a Fintech Company on a 7-figure claim for commission payments following termination of his employment (unled) [Bonus & Unlawful Deductions].
- Drafting Grounds of Complaint for a senior executive working in the private equity sector in a 7-figure pregnancy and maternity discrimination, failure to make reasonable adjustments, direct sex discrimination, direct disability discrimination, harassment related to disability and automatic and ordinary unfair dismissal claim (unled) [Equality Act and MAPLE claims].
- Drafting Grounds of Complaint for a senior executive working in the financial services sector in a 7-figure whistleblowing detriment claim (unled) [Whistleblowing].
- Drafting Grounds of Complaint for a senior executive working in the financial services sector in a 7-figure whistleblowing detriment, failure to make reasonable adjustments, direct disability discrimination and harassment related to disability claim (unled) [Whistleblowing, Equality Act claims].
- Drafting Grounds of Complaint for a senior executive working in the financial services sector in direct sex and race discrimination, harassment related to sex, race and disability, victimisation and s188 & 189 TULR(C)A 1992 claim [Whistleblowing, Collective Consultation].
- Drafting an 8-figure sex discrimination claim for a Senior Executive working in the financial services sector (led by Adam Solomon KC and Daniel-Tatton Brown KC) (Equality Act claims).
- Drafting a complex equal pay, pregnancy and maternity and sex discrimination claim, for a senior executive working for a well-known Investment Bank (unled) [Equality Act claims – Discrimination and Equal Pay].
- Instructed to advise a Trade Union on the rights of its members during the COVID-19 crisis [Constructive Unfair Dismissal, Health & Safety Whistleblowing, Detriment, Unlawful Deductions, Interim Relief].
- Instructed to advise a Government Department on the entitlement of transgender men to pregnancy and maternity benefits [Human Rights Act 1998, EU retained law, SSCBA 1992].