I have many years experience advising and representing employees at Tribunals, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and higher courts. I have been accepting public access work, both litigation and advisory, for more than 5 years. My work load covers all areas of tribunal work with a particular emphasis on claims of unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistle blowing, TUPE disputes and harassment claims.
I am a specialist Employment practitioner. I act for Claimants in all types of employment work.
My approach
If you contact me I will:
- Get in touch with you as soon as possible but certainly during the same day
- Have an initial discussion with you without charge
- Meet you face to face for further discussions
- Inform you in advance of the cost of any work that I do for you
- Work promptly and effectively to achieve a commercial outcome.
In most cases our initial contact will be by telephone. Typically we will spend about 30 mins discussing your employment issues and identifying where I can assist. There is no charge for this discussion.If you instruct me to carry out work you will receive a client care letter setting out my fees for the work to be done. No chargeable work is done until we agree the terms and conditions.
Once instructed we will likely meet face to face at a convenient location. We will then have a detailed discussion about your circumstances. Subsequently we will liaise by email or by phone or face to face as necessary.
I work promptly and efficiently making sure you are kept informed during the working day or the evening if appropriate.
My work
I act for clients in many employment disputes every year. Mostly they are settled or decided by Employment Tribunals at a hearing.
To give you examples of my existing cases I am currently working on the following:
- a claim of disability discrimination, constructive unfair dismissal and personal injury valued at several hundred thousand pounds brought by a former senior manager against a leading supermarket retailer.
- a high-profile claim by a former care worker against a major group of care homes for automatic unfair dismissal for whistle blowing following detailed allegations of neglect towards residents.
- a groundbreaking claim of disability discrimination where a tribunal will shortly decide the status of a claim issued after an ACAS officer wrongly issued an Early Conciliation Certificate.
It is rare for employment cases to be widely reported but I have been involved in several high-profile cases in the past. The following are examples of such cases just to give you a flavour of my work:
Dhunna v Creditsights Ltd [2013] ICR 909
This was an appeal against a decision of an employment tribunal judge finding that the Claimant had no jurisdiction to bring a claim of unfair dismissal because he was an expatriate worker based in Dubai at the date of dismissal. I represented the Claimant who was a UK citizen and had been working for a British company when he was dismissed. I successfully persuaded the Employment Appeal Tribunal that the Employment Tribunal had applied the wrong test on ‘jurisdiction’ and the principles in the previous cases of Lawson v Serco, Duncombe v Secretary of State for Children and Ravat v Halliburton Manufacturing and Services Ltd had not been correctly applied.
This is the leading UK case on jurisdiction decided during the last couple of years.
Keane v Investigo Ltd UKEAT/0389/09
This was one of the first cases in the EAT which looked at age discrimination in the context of advertisements for jobs. The claimant had applied unsuccessfully for many jobs after answering advertisements asking for applicants to be ‘a few years post qualification experience.’
Pendragon Ltd v Copus [2005] ICR 1671
In this case I persuaded the EAT that an Employment Tribunal had applied the wrong test when it had refused to review a default judgment made in the absence of a party who had not been aware of a case management date to take a step in the proceedings.
About me
I am based in London, live near Cambridge and have clients all over Great Britain and abroad. I regularly travel for work and have appeared in Employment Tribunals from Inverness to Exeter and Carlisle to Ashford.
I advise employees and workers from the earliest stages of a dispute. I assist with preparation for disciplinary and grievance hearings and can help to resolve workplace disputes to avoid dismissal or other sanction. For example many discrimination issues are sorted out during existing employment.
If employment has come to an end I can advise on potential claims and their value. I will help draft the claims and then assist with case management either to settlement or final hearing.
If you have lost a tribunal claim then I can help by advising you on the merits of an appeal and tell you what will happen during the process.
So whether you are worried about being bullied or harassed at work, feel you have been discriminated against, are owed pay, have been dismissed or been unfairly treated because you are a whistle blower I am here to lend a hand. I provide a comprehensive service from start to finish.
What my clients say
"Dear Mr Wright,
It is with great pleasure I am writing to express my gratitude for all your hard work which led to last night's victory.
You counterpart was no match to your outstanding knowledge of our complicated case and your superior advocacy skills.
Throughout your engagement, you kept us informed and grounded. You have been most supportive during very difficult times while maintaining unparalleled professionalism.
You are a credit to the legal profession. We consider ourselves lucky to have found you and remain humbled you decided to represent us on three occasions. We are enbebted to you and shall continue to hold you in very high regard. Kindest regards,"
Recently Ian received the following four unsolicited comments from clients at the end of cases.
'A devastatingly brilliant job. Thank you so much for all of your work which, in my view, was over and above the bar!' (London based client)
‘I know I have said verbally but I wanted to take the time to record my particular, personal thanks to you. I have been supported by you to a highly professional standard. Your commitment has been second to none.’ (Aberdeen based client)
‘It was a pleasure to work with you and thank you for achieving such a great result and for putting me at ease' (Bristol client)
'We are very pleased with the outcome and very grateful for all your assistance.' (West Midlands based client)
From the Directories:
"His intuition on strategic and evidential issues is unnervingly accurate." - Legal 500, 2016/2017
Professional & academic
I have a degree in a scientific subject as well as law. I have more than twenty year’s experience of employment practice. I am a member of the following professional associations Employment Law Bar Association, Employment Law Association and the Health & Safety Lawyers Association.
I have been included in the ‘Legal 500’ for more than 10 years. I am recognised by the HSE/EA/ORR by being included on List A of their regulatory panel of Barristers.
Academic Status
- BSc Biochemistry
- LLB Law
Professional memberships
ELBA, HSLA, LCCBA.