Jeremy Lewis KC

Jeremy regularly acts in claims for and resisting injunctive relief, primarily in cases involving restraint of trade, confidentiality, intellectual property and fiduciary duty issues concerning employees, directors and/or shareholders, partners or vendor/purchaser cases. He has been instructed in a wide range of business sectors including fashion, recruitment consultancy, internet travel, journalism, inter-dealer broking, insurance broking, engineering, computing, retail, telecommunications, solicitors and, NHS Trusts.

Notable cases have included:

• Mehan and others v Visage Limited [2017] EWHC 2734 (QB, 3 November 2017, Mrs Justice Yip), together with Selwyn Bloch KC, obtaining extensive interim injunctions, including non-compete and springboard injunctions, in the context of a team move in the clothing sector.
• Summan v University of Lincolnshire (Claim No. D00LN154, Lincoln County Court, 27 April 2017 – successfully resisting a claim for injunctive relief to prevent internal disciplinary proceedings continuing against a University lecturer.
• Tullet Prebon v BGC Brokers (acting for the ten brokers moving to BGC against whom extended garden leave injunctions were sought)
• Paul Wurth Limited and others v Siemens VAI Metals Technologies Limited (CA), which concerned a springboard injunction in relation to a mass team move.
• Ashworth v Royal National Theatre [2014] 4 All E.R. 238 (resisting application for injunction seeking to require continued employment of the band in “Warhorse”).

Jeremy is co-author of five chapters in Brearley and Bloch, “Employment covenants and confidential information”.  (Bloomsbury, 4th ed 2018) relating to:

• The duty of fidelity;
• Fiduciary duties;
• Reasonableness of express covenants;
• Introducing/ varying covenants; and
• Final remedies

Jeremy’s practice covers all forms of employment law in the civil courts and employment tribunal, and also before the CAC. He is recommended as a leader in the field of employment law by Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners, and has acted in a number of the landmark cases in the field.  He is particularly noted for his expertise in relation to transfer of undertakings, whistleblowing, business protection and discrimination (see the separate sub-headings above and below).

Chambers and Partners have highlighted transfer of undertakings, together with whistleblowing, as fields in which Jeremy is particularly recommended, and he is General Editor of the leading work on the subject (Sweet & Maxwell’s loose-leaf).  Sample notable transfer of undertakings cases in which he has acted include:

• Jinks v Havering LBC UKEAT/0085/17/JOJ, 14 November 2017 – successfully upholding the decision that employment had not transferred under TUPE by way of service provision change.
• Born London Ltd v Spire Production Services Ltd [2017] IRLR 493 – succeeding at first instance and on appeal in the first appellate decision on employee liability information.
• Services for Education Limited v White UKEAT/0024/15/DM, 10 August 2015, HHJ Elisabeth Laing J (concerning the meaning of “time of the transfer” under s.208 ERA, and therefore whether continuity of employment was preserved over a one month gap between fixed term contracts on a transfer).
• Celtec and others v Astley (House of Lords and European Court of Justice): This is the leading case on timing of a transfer, establishing the principle that there must be a single date for the transfer and the test as to how that date is to be ascertained. The reasoning in the case is also important in relation to the scope for employees to opt out of the transfer, and lies at the heart of argument in subsequent cases as to the validity of secondments in a TUPE context.
• Sodexo Limited v Gutridge and others (Court of Appeal): The leading authority on the approach to equal pay time limits in a TUPE context.
• Small and others v Boots Co. Plc (EAT): A claim concerning discretionary bonuses in a TUPE context. Acting pro bono on behalf of 10 warehouse workers, Jeremy, with Katheryn Apps as his junior, successfully overturned the decision of the employment tribunal.
• Doane v MK Dons and others: in the context of a personal injury claim arising from a tackle during a league football match, the case established the principles that vicarious liability could transfer despite the liability being to someone other than a transferring employee.
• Dudley Bower Building Services Limited v Lowe (EAT): in the context of a complex facilities management contract, Jeremy succeeded at first instance and on the appeal in establishing that there had been a transfer notwithstanding that the undertaking contained only a single employee.

As a leading barrister instructed on whistleblowing claims, Jeremy is lead author of what is widely recognised as the leading work on the subject – “Whistleblowing, Law and Practice (OUP, 3rd ed. 2017). The new (fourth) free supplement to Whistleblowing Law and Practice 3rd Edition can now been downloaded here – https://littletonchambers.com/publications/books-241/

Jeremy is regularly instructed in whistleblowing claims, covering a wide variety of issues and sectors including claims involving City law firm, a multi-national food manufacturer, a car manufacturer, a teaching hospital, local authorities, banks, brokers, fund managers and other financial institutions, an employment agency and police and police-related organisations.

He acted in:

• Ibrahim v HCA International Limited [2020] IRLR 224 (CA): successful appeal in a whistleblowing claim, an important authority on the approach to the public interest test.
• Pirie v Liquid Telecommunications Limited Central London ET, 12 December 2019, successfully resisting whistleblowing interim relief application.
• Chumber v Hestia Healthcare Limited UKEAT/0229/18/LA, 22 February 2019, successful appeal against rejection of claims including whistleblowing unfair dismissal claim.
• Underwood v Wincanton Group LtdUKEAT/0212/15/RN, 27 August 2015, on the public interest test
• Kuzel v Roche Products Limited(CA), which is the leading case on burden of proof in protected disclosure claims
• Darnton v University of Surrey(EAT), the leading case on the test for a qualifying disclosure
• Dunster v First Transpennine Express Limited, EAT (on causation in whistleblowing cases).

Jeremy was also a member of the steering committee for the British Standards Institution’s Whistleblowing Code of Practice, first published in July 2008.

Jeremy is regularly instructed in a range of discrimination claims including in relation to part time workers, fixed term workers, sex, race, age, disability, religious and sexual-orientation discrimination. He has also acted in equal pay claims in a variety of sectors (and together with Naomi Ellenbogen KC is currently acting as independent reviewer for the BBC’s pay review for on-air staff), including acting for local authorities in ongoing mass equal pay claims, and also acting in equal pay claims in the university sector, the banking sector and the health sector.

Notable cases have included:

• Chumber v Hestia Healthcare Limited UKEAT/0229/18/LA, 22 February 2019, successful appeal against rejection of reasonable adjustments claim.
• Muzi-Mabaso v Her Majestys Customs and Excise[2015] UKEAT/0353/14/DA, 13 November 2015 – successfully overturning in part the first instance decision to reject disability discrimination claims.
• MacIntosh v National Waiting Times Centre BoardUKEATS/0001/15/SM, 17 June 2015 (discrimination arising from disability and disability-related harassment)
• McCabe v Greater Glasgow Health BoardUKEATS/0004/14/SM, 10 June 2014, Langstaff J (unfair dismissal and disability discrimination)
• Matthews v Kent and Medway Town Fire AuthorityHouse of Lords, the leading case on the Part Time Workers Regulations
• Sodexo Limited v Gutridge, Court of Appeal, concerning the approach to equal pay time limits in a TUPE context and Sinclair Roche v Heard and Fellows (an appeal in the context of a sex discrimination claim against a city law firm),
• Smith v Carillion(JM) Ltd [2015] I.R.L.R. 467 (CA) (requirement for contractual relationship for claims of detriment for health and safety and trade union activities; application of European Convention of Human Rights).

In addition to acting in the civil courts and employment tribunals, Jeremy also acts in claims before the Central Arbitration Committee, and has been in several cases where decisions of the CAC have been challenged on an application for judicial review including:

• R v CAC ex parte Kwik Fit (GB) Limited (CA) (an important decision on the correct approach to determination of a collective bargaining unit)
• R v CAC ex parte BBC (concerning whether, for the purposes of trade union recognition, cameramen were to be regarded as professionals)
• R (Netjets Management Ltd) v CAC (permission to appeal in decision on territorial jurisdiction).

Jeremy has acted in a range of other types of claim across the employment field and related areas. His practice involves advising and successfully representing clients in high value wrongful dismissal and bonus claims, both for employers and employees, and in some cases involving broader partnership, shareholder and other commercial disputes.

Jeremy was recognised as a leading junior in Sports law in the 2015 edition of Legal 500 and has acted in a variety of sports including:

• Member of Sports Resolutions pro-bono panel
• Advised on revisions to regulation of agency fees in relation to a major administrator within UK sport.
• Advised on behalf of England cricketers suspended from national selection.
• A challenge to withdrawal of funding by British Swimming: Tancock v British SwimmingSR/0000720014, 14 November 2014 (Mr David Phillips KC).
• wrongful dismissal by football managers,
• disputes as to television rights relating to Premier League teams
• disputes over renewal of central contracts
• personal injury in sports (eg Doane v MK Dons and others(Sheffield County Court)).

Relevant areas include commercial contract disputes, director disputes and fiduciary duties, shareholder disputes and corporate insolvency.  Jeremy is the author of the chapter on employees and insolvency in Lightman and Moss, “The Law of Administrators and Receivers of Companies” (Sweet and Maxwell, 6th edition, 2017) and the chapter on Fiduciary Duties in Bloch and Brearley on “Employment covenants and confidential information”  (Bloomsbury, 4th ed 2018).  Recent cases include:

• acting on behalf of former CEO of a multi-national tool company in claims involving inter-relation of shareholder and employment covenants, compulsory share purchase and allegations of breach of confidentiality and director’s duties.
• acting on behalf of an administrator in relation to a collective redundancy consultation claim.
• acting for the alleged transferee in a discrimination claim also brought against an insolvent LLP and some of its members.
• application for injunctive relief in context of dispute over use of funds raised by a religious community.
• with Selwyn Bloch KC, successfully obtaining extensive interim injunctions, including non-compete and springboard injunctions, in the context of a team move in the clothing sector (Mehan and others v Visage Limited).

Other notable cases include:

• Paul Wurth Limited and others v Siemens VAI Metals Technologies Limited (CA) (interim injunction and dispute as effect of without prejudice communications)
• I-Way Limited v World Online Telecom Limited (Commercial Court) (misrepresentation, implication of contractual terms, estoppel)
• Zakharov v White (interim injunction/ lawfulness of bench warrant/commercial fraud)
• In re Oriental Gas Company Limited (company; unfair prejudice)
• Owens Bank Limited v Etoile Commerciale S.A. (Privy Council) (conflict of Laws, estoppel/abuse of process)

Jeremy’s practice also includes judicial review, which he previously lectured in at Brasenose College, Oxford University. He has acted in a variety of matters including disputes relating to a claim to quash the dismissal of a Chief Financial Officer in the public sector, exclusions from school and university courses, disputes in relation to exclusion of doctors from specialist training courses, withdrawal of legal aid and decisions of the Central Arbitration Committee (including R v CAC ex parte BBC (judicial review/trade union recognition and R v CAC ex parte Kwik Fit (GB) Limited  (CA) (judicial review/trade union recognition).

Jeremy is an Accredited Mediator within the ADR Group

Co-author/editor:
General Editor, of “Transfer of Undertakings” (Sweet & Maxwell, looseleaf)
Lewis, Bowers, Fodder and Mitchell, “Whistleblowing, Law and Practice” (2017, OUP, 3rd ed)
“Vicarious liability” (PLC Practice Notice)
Bowers and Lewis, Employment Law and Human Rights (Sweet and Maxwell 2001)
Lewis and Lewis, The Work Family Challenge: Rethinking Employment (Sage, 1996).

Contributor:
Bloch and Brearley, “Employment Covenants and Confidential Information” (Bloomsbury,  4th edition, 2018).
Lightman and Moss, “The Law of Administrators and Receivers of Companies” (Sweet and Maxwell, 6th edition, 2017).
Butterworth Tolley’s Termination of Employment (looseleaf).

Jeremy is a Part time Employment Judge (Watford)

Memberships
Employment Law Bar Association
Employment Lawyers Association
Industrial Law Society
Commercial Bar Association

Education
After attending Manchester Grammar School (1979-86), Jeremy studied law at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he obtained a First Class Honours degree and a First Class degree on the Bachelor of Civil Law course.