Tom is widely recognised as a leading employment silk, with a practice that encompasses High Court and statutory employment cases, company, partnership and LLP disputes, civil fraud and asset recovery. He is instructed in the full range of complex employment litigation, with particular expertise in dealing with complex financial services, accounting and IT issues. Tom is highly rated in the latest editions of both legal directories, The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners and is particularly noted for his expertise in whistleblowing and team moves cases. Recent comments include:

  • "A silk with an imperturbable demeanor and great client-handling skills."- Legal 500, 2024
  • "Tom's supreme technical expertise speaks for itself, but the reason I instruct him is his unending ability to instil confidence in the most senior of clients."- Chambers & Partners, 2024

Previous comments include:

  • "Undoubtedly one of the top employment barristers at the Bar and right at the top of his game in restraint of trade and whistleblowing claims – no one has more experience."- Legal 500, 2023
  • "Thomas is excellent on restrictive covenants and an experienced High Court practitioner."- Chambers UK, 2023

Recent highlights of Tom’s practice include:

  • Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd v Passi [2021] EWHC 3642: a successful application for delivery up of privileged and confidential documents retained by Nissan’s former Global General Counsel
  • Passi v Nissan: high-profile whistleblowing case, much reported in international press, including successfully resisting application for interim relief by former general counsel
  • Christie v Canaccord Genuity Ltd [2022] IRLR 672: major bonus related dispute in which summary judgment successfully sought on part of the claim prior to success at trial on the remaining aspect. A leading case on intention to create legal relations in relation to bonus promises.
  • Lenton & Hardisty v Venture X: substantial shareholder dispute arising out of the termination of employment and operation of good-leaver bad leaver provisions
  • Square Global v Leonard: dealing with the enforceability of restrictive covenants (reported at [2020] IRLR 607)
  • Forse v Secarma [2019] IRLR 587 (Court of Appeal): leading case on springboard injunctions
  • Housebuilder v Housebuilder & anor: substantial claim for misuse of confidential information and database rights
  • Source Bioscience v Wheatcroft & Ors [2021] EWHC 2909: acting for a bioscience company repelling a corporate raid, dealing with misconduct by a departing executive and considering issues related to payment to third parties
  • Yorke v GlaxoSmithKline [2021] 9 WLUK 117: complex disability discrimination claim. Acted pro bono.
  • P v Bank: acting for a foreign-domiciled bank in a substantial whistleblowing and discrimination claim brought by a compliance officer
  • Acting for professional services partnership: acting for a partnership in relation to the expulsion of a member, allegedly in bad faith

Experience

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Employment

Tom specialises in High Court employment litigation with an emphasis on cases involving injunctive relief in relation to confidentiality and competition. He is also able to combine commercial, company law and employment experience to provide assistance in relation to, for example, the litigation issues created by the dismissal of shareholder directors, the removal of partners and members of LLPs and the problems raised by the termination of consultancy arrangements in the financial services industry and the recovery of assets misappropriated by those inside a business.

He has appeared as an advocate at every level of the domestic courts in a broad range of cases concerning discrimination, whistleblowing, union rights, TUPE and all other forms of statutory employment claim, acting for Applicants and Respondents with a particular focus on the financial and professional services sectors.

Tom was awared Employment Junior of the Year at the Chambers Bar Awards in 2014 and in 2013 was ranked as one of Chambers UK's Top Junior Bar 100, in their inaugural listing of the top barristers practising at the Bar of England & Wales.

Cases

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Employee Competition

Tom practises extensively in employee competition and examples of his current and recent work in this area can be found below.

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Whistleblowing

Tom has acted in many of the highest value whistleblowing claims that have been brought in recent years, most of which have been in the financial services sector.

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TUPE

Examples of Tom’s recent TUPE work can be found below.

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Discrimination

Tom practises extensively in matters concerning discrimination and equal pay and examples of his current and recent work in this area can be found below.

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Commercial

Tom is involved with commercial and contractual disputes in a wide range of fields including directors’ duties, civil fraud, factoring and invoice discounting, FX trading, derivatives and other financial instruments and insurance. He has experience of unfair prejudice petitions and insolvency proceedings. He has developed a particular expertise in partnership and LLP disputes in the professional services sector.

Tom has particular experience undertaking commercial work in the context of the FCA-Regulated sector, combining his experience and knowledge of the role of the FCA with general commercial, fraud and fiduciary duty experience.

His experience in dealing with hedge funds (marketing, investment, redemption and valuation issues for long/short, long-only, fof, credit and quant funds), private equity houses (partnership/LLP issues, carried interest disputes) and investment and private banks (all forms of employment, share and remuneration disputes) is particularly significant.

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Civil Fraud, Asset Recovery & Injunctive Relief

Tom has acted on behalf of many of the leading factors and invoice-discounters and also many other banks, financial institutions and companies in relation to fraud and indemnity claims. These claims have involved numerous successful applications for Search Orders, Freezing Orders and other related interlocutory relief in the Chancery Division, Companies Court, Queen's Bench Division and the Commercial Court.

Substantial experience through court and advisory work in relation to all forms of injunctions commonly granted by domestic courts including Search Orders, Freezing Orders, Doorstep Disclosure Orders, ne exeat regno/Bayer v Winter relief and interim specific performance of contracts.

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Partnership

Tom has acted for both individuals and firms in relation to claims arising out of membership or alleged membership of LLP and traditional partnerships, particularly in relation to legal, FCA regulated and other professional service sector LLPs.

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Achievements

Education

MA (Cantab)

Memberships

  • ELA (member of management committee from 2001 to 2007)
  • COMBAR
  • Erstwhile member of the management committee of Bar Pro Bono Unit and employment case reviewer for the Bar Pro Bono Unit

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