Simon Emslie Degree: MA (Hons) St Andrews (First Class with Distinction); LLB (Hons) City University (First Class Honours) Year of call and Inn: 2007; Inner Temple (Princess Royal Scholar and Inner Temple City Prize) Professional Membership: Western Circuit, ELA, PIBA Email: simon.emslie@albionchambers.co.uk Specialist Areas: Employment and Professional Disciplinary General common law including contract and tort, Landlord and Tenant, and other land and property disputes Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Practice Overview: Simon Emslie practises primarily in employment, personal injury and clinical negligence law. He also accepts instructions in general common law, including contract and landlord and tenant. Recommendations in national publications: "He was very prompt, very succinct and on point." Chambers and Partners 2019 "A good lawyer with a thoughtful style." Chambers and Partners 2018 "Practises in both employment and personal injury law. He is frequently instructed on issues of unfair dismissal, whistle-blowing, TUPE and breach of contract. He presents himself in an assured way and presents our case in a confident fashion." Chambers and Partners 2017 Often represents both claimant employees and respondent organisations such as schools, security
services and NHS trusts. He has experience in dealing with cases involving issues such as breach of contract, whistle-blowing, redundancy and holiday pay. He s incredibly detailed, very good under pressure, and comes prepared with pages and pages of notes. He s talented and he knows his law; a clever young man. Chambers and Partners 2016 Languages: Italian, Spanish Areas of Practice Employment Simon has a busy employment law practice. He frequently advises and represents claimants and respondents in a variety of areas, including: Unfair dismissal, including constructive dismissal Wrongful dismissal Redundancy situations All forms of actionable discrimination Protected disclosures (whistleblowing) TUPE Unauthorised deductions from wages Working time and holiday pay Breach of contract He is also experienced in dealing with discrimination and harassment claims outside of the employment law context. Simon is often instructed in cases involving NHS Trusts, healthcare providers, schools, local authorities and police constabularies and has appeared in the Employment Appeal Tribunal and employment tribunals across the country. In an appearance at the EAT, HHJ Hand QC remarked on Simon s penetrating and thoughtful analysis and his helpful presentation. Recent cases have included: Representing a Member of Parliament A claim for age discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal following the employer's unilateral variation of contract A claim for unfair dismissal where a teacher had been dismissed for failing to disclose that her partner had been charged with and then convicted of sexual offences Representing a nurse in a factually complex case involving complaints of disability discrimination, whistleblowing and unfair dismissal A claim for pregnancy discrimination and failure to pay the correct rate of Statutory Maternity Pay A claim for unfair dismissal involving a dispute over clawback provisions and the claimant's entitlement to commission after his employment had ended A preliminary hearing to determine whether certain material was covered by the without prejudice rule A claim for religious harassment where the claimant alleged he had been mistreated because he did not share his employer's beliefs
A claim for disability discrimination involving associative discrimination Advising on when a breach of contract claim had arisen and whether the employment tribunal had jurisdiction to hear it A claim involving multiple allegations of victimisation and whistleblowing detriment A claim for failure to pay the National Minimum Wage where there was a dispute as to whether the employment contract was continuing or had been frustrated. A preliminary hearing on the issue of territorial jurisdiction Claims for trade union discrimination. EAT: Mears Group Plc v Vassall (2013) when time starts to run for a complaint of failure to make reasonable adjustments; whether Tribunal s decision not to adjourn the final hearing was perverse. Stroud Rugby Football Club v Monkman (2013) whether the Tribunal erred in calculating the award for compensation; whether an employer is under a duty to consider bumping in a redundancy situation. Roberts v Governing Body of Whitecross School [2012] All ER (D) 233 (Jun) whether anticipatory breach of paragraph 9.1 of Section 4 of the Burgundy Book was a fundamental breach of contract. Training: Simon provides training to solicitors and HR professionals in both in-house and open seminars. Clerk: Stephen Arnold E: stephen.arnold@albionchambers.co.uk T: 0117 311 0310 Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Personal Injury Simon has a busy personal injury practice and frequently accepts instructions on behalf of claimants and defendants in matters including: Employer s liability Trips and slips Occupiers liability RTA claims Stress at work and harassment claims Noise-induced hearing loss CICA appeals As well as appearing in fast-track and multi-track cases, Simon is frequently asked to advise on liability, evidence, quantum and Part 36 offers and to draft pleadings. Recent work has included: Advising on quantum in a complex where the claimant had suffered injuries necessitating extensive dental treatment An RTA that resulted in the claimant suffering from complex regional pain syndrome Advising on gas exposure claims Responding to an application to withdraw an admission of liability made in the MOJ Portal
where the claim had exited the portal due to quantum Representing a number of alleged uninsured drivers and successfully defending claims where the defendant denied any involvement in the accident at all Advising on the negligence immunity principle in a claim against the police A claim under the Montreal Convention 1999 for an accident arising from air travel Advising on the quantum of claims involving psychiatric injury and compensation for injury to feelings as a result of harassment Clinical Negligence Simon has advised in a variety of matters including: Articles: The issue of informed consent for treatment, following Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11 A claim against a care home for failure to prevent the development/deterioration of pressure sores A claim for failure to diagnose low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma on histological examination A claim concerning a radiologist's negligence A claim concerning the management of a non-viable pregnancy Surveillance Evidence, Personal Injury Law Journal (March 2011) Civil Clerk: Stephen Arnold E: stephen.arnold@albionchambers.co.uk T: 0117 311 0310 Common Law Simon accepts instructions in Landlord and Tenant and other areas of property law. Recent cases have included: Advising on whether a valid service occupancy existed or whether the employee/occupier had security of tenure Advising a district council on an appeal against a final notice issued to a company for failure to belong to a property redress scheme A claim based on adverse possession Advising on ownership of various boundary walls and on where the repairing responsibilities lay A claim for possession with arguments as to the validity and enforceability of a purported tenancy agreement; the authenticity of a signature; and undue influence Advising on the enforceability of a covenant to repair a right of way and on the abandonment of easements A claim for a new tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Advising on a contract for sale of commercial property conditional on planning permission being obtained Advising on the validity and enforceability of an exclusivity agreement Applications for new leases under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 Advising on potential claims for nuisance following damage to property
Simon also accepts instructions in contractual disputes and tort claims. Recent work has included: A claim for clawback of commission payments Successful defence of an employment agency s claim for an introduction fee Advising on potential claims for professional negligence involving conveyancing solicitors and a chartered surveyor A claim for race discrimination against a provider of services to the public Advising on the quantum of claims for damages under the Data Protection Act 1998 Civil Clerk: Stephen Arnold E: stephen.arnold@albionchambers.co.uk T: 0117 311 0310 Recommendations Solicitor recommendations: "A pleasure to work with" "Has an excellent, calm manner with clients" "Always quick to identify the issues that matter and has a keen sense of proportionality in these days of tighter fees and budgeting" "Provides thorough, clear and well thought out advice" "Able to adapt his style of advocacy as necessary. Always calm, he can at times be understated, letting the obvious difficulty of the witness in answering questions make the point, and at others more forceful" "Has a calm, unassuming but confident manner which makes him likeable and inspires reliance upon his work" Client testimonials: "Thank you so much for representing me today and for the outcome which now puts an end to two and a half years of difficulties with my former employer. It cannot be easy for a young man to advise people twice his age and do it with a consummate professionalism and a wonderful style" "Simon Emslie was most professional, eloquent and supportive throughout the Hearing, and I am sure has contributed greatly to defending the Council" "I just wanted to write to say thank you so much for all of your help with my case, not just for representing me in court, but also for being so kind and supportive to me and my family in that difficult time. We all really appreciated your patience when it came to explaining things we didn't understand! It has finally sunk in for me that the case is over... I could not have got through it without you" "I would just like to thank you so much for being there for us at the Inquest, we wouldn't have been able to get that result without you, my mother would have been so proud of us all"
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