Thomas Brown
Profile
Tom specialises in employment, discrimination, public and human rights law. He acts for a wide range of clients, from individuals to public bodies, companies, charities and trade unions. He has been involved in cases in most major areas of industry, including banking, healthcare, telecommunications, sport, education, retail, leisure, and manufacture as well as police and local government.
He has an active advisory practice, often involving advice on legal policy for regulatory bodies, trade unions and non-departmental public bodies, including the Equality and Human Rights Commission. He has worked with Robin Allen QC for the former equalities commissions and other public and regulatory bodies.
As an advocate, Tom has appeared in the Court of Appeal and appears regularly before the Employment Appeal Tribunal, in Employment Tribunals and in the High Court and County Court. Tom has been instructed in litigation by the equalities commissions, including some of the earliest goods and services cases brought under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Tom has been involved in several cases concerning privacy for police officers involved in high-profile terrorist operations, as well as High Court proceedings to protect the privacy of family members of individuals subject to control orders. Tom has also represented individuals in proceedings for compensation as a result of torture and miscarriages of justice and has appeared in the Administrative Court. Tom has an interest in prison law and has represented claimants in judicial review and civil proceedings.
Tom maintains an interest in human rights, including international human rights and humanitarian law. Before joining chambers, Tom worked at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. In 2002, he was part of a team investigating and reporting on alleged violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the middle east.
Tom has facilitated human rights training in Turkey, the Balkans, Egypt and Yemen under the auspices of the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Foreign Office, the United Nations Development Programme and the Swedish Helsinki Committee. In 2005, Tom was awarded a Pegasus Scholarship to work at the Federal Court of Australia. In 2007, he was asked by Amnesty International to monitor treason proceedings in Ethiopia.
Between 2002 and 2003, Tom worked as the judicial assistant to Lord Bingham of Cornhill, then Senior Law Lord. Between 2003 and 2007, he was a member of the Independent Monitoring Board for Pentonville Prison, with special responsibility for race relations, diversity and foreign national prisoners. Since 2008, Tom has acted as a supervisor at the Camden Law Centre.
Tom represented Paul Buckland, who was successful in employment tribunal proceedings against Bournemouth University for constructive dismissal. The case generated significant media interest and was reported in The Economist, The Guardian and The Times.
Legal Publications
'Public Procurement and Transparency in the Private Sector,' with Robin Allen QC, in Blackstone's Guide to the Equality Act 2010 (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
'Discrimination Law Review: responding to A Framework for Fairness,' Legal Action (August, 2007).
'The "without prejudice" dismissal revisited: BNP Paribas v. Mezzoterro," ELA Briefing (June, 2004)
'Liberty's Response to the Disability Rights Commission Draft Code of Practice on Employment and Occupation' (November, 2003).
'Disability Discrimination' in Sweet & Maxwell's Encyclopaedia of Employment Law (2002 onwards)
'Immigration and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act,' Solicitors' Journal (April, 2002).
Cases
Buckland v Bournemouth University [2010] EWCA Civ 121; [2009] ICR 1042; [2009] IRLR 606 (CA; EAT)
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council v. Teesdale (2008, EAT)
Croal v Network Rail Infrastructure Limited [2008] All ER (D) 411 (Feb) (EAT)
Stansbury v Datapulse Plc [2004] ICR 523; [2004] IRLR 466 (CA)
Qualifications
MA (Oxon), Dip Law (City)