Emma has a broad trial, appellate, and advisory practice, across disciplines: in employment and equality, human rights, personal injury, clinical negligence, public and administrative, and commercial law.

Emma is especially sought after for cases involving whistleblowing law, building on her previous work as a senior legal adviser for whistleblowing charity Protect.

Emma frequently appears in the Employment Tribunal in multi-day trials and has been instructed as sole and junior counsel in appellate cases in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Emma has civil court expertise, acting in County Court claims across practice areas, and has experience in crossover cases involving human rights and media and information law. Emma is often instructed to appear against more senior opponents, including silks.

Prior to Cloisters

In Emma’s previous work as a senior legal adviser for whistleblowing charity Protect, she advised clients on their whistleblowing rights, undertook Employment Tribunal claim casework, and trained employers on whistleblowing law, best practice and investigations (including in the financial, health and social care sectors).

During her legal studies, Emma volunteered for the Free Representation Unit, representing social security Claimants in their appeals; Hackney Migrant Centre, advocating for migrants’ rights; Protect and Can’t Buy My Silence, creating films to make the law on whistleblowing / NDAs more accessible, and Gray’s Inn’s Griffin Law project, teaching parliamentary debating to schoolchildren.

Prior to coming to the bar, Emma worked for more than a decade as a professional actress, musician, and musical director, including shows at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and in the West End, at regional theatres across the UK, Europe and the USA, and for Paramount Pictures, Channel 5 and BBC Radio 3.

Emma has a diverse employment and discrimination practice, acting on behalf of employees and employers in the civil courts and employment tribunals, across the full spectrum of relevant matters (including whistleblowing, victimisation, harassment, discrimination, unfair dismissal, equal pay, TUPE, parental leave, contract, redundancy collective consultation procedures, and restrictive covenants). Emma regularly acts in complex, sensitive and/or high-value cases. She is skilled at negotiating favourable settlements and has represented clients in judicial mediations and dispute resolution appointments.

Recent appellate cases include:

• Mr Naveed Bari v London Boroughs of Richmond and Wandsworth [2025] EAT 54 (sole counsel, for the Appellant) – allowing all grounds of appeal, HHJ Auerbach gave helpful guidance on the correct approach to applications for specific disclosure and requests for information, and the conceptual difference between the two (at [33]-[47]).

• Mr Charlie Forrest v Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL UK Branch [2025] EAT 81 (led by Olivia-Faith Dobbie, for the Appellant – assistance with drafting skeleton argument only) – authority that it is an error of law not to consider whether a fair trial is possible when deciding whether to strike out a claim for non-compliance with a case management order [36]; further, strike out in such circumstances will rarely be appropriate without “at least trying the effect of an unless order” (at [34] and [42]). Press coverage of the case: Employment Law UK

• Dr Nigel MacLennan v The British Psychological Society (Protect and The Charity Commission intervening) [2024] EAT 166(led by Chris Milsom, for the Appellant)–authority on (i) the correct approach to establishing whether there has been a breach of Article 14 ECHR (at [55]-[60] and [103]-[105]); confirmed that (ii) whistleblowing protection may flow from pre-work disclosures, where the requisite employment status has been achieved by the time of the alleged detriment (at [29]-[33] and [111]). Press coverage for the case: The Times, The Third Sector, Psychreg, Civil Society, UK fundraising, Law 360.

• M Birkett v Integral UK Ltd EAT/2022/000574(sole counsel for the Appellant) – allowing both grounds of appeal, the EAT found that the ET had erred in law by making inadequate factual findings and giving inadequate reasons as to whether reasonable steps were taken by the Respondent to: (1) find the Claimant alternative employment, and (2) ensure that the recruitment process for the one vacancy for which the Claimant was interviewed was fair.

Recent first instance litigation and other instructions include:

• Drafted a list of issues for a complex claim of equal pay, whistleblowing, victimisation, harassment related to sex, direct sex discrimination, indirect sex discrimination, failure to provide a written statement of changes to terms and conditions, and a reference/determination under ss.11-12 ERA 1996.

• Drafted a letter of response to a claim of alleged breaches of restrictive covenants, including non-compete, non-team move, non-employ and non-solicit clauses.

• Mrs J Rajesh v Tesco Stores Ltd (2025) – successfully represented the Respondent in a multi-day final hearing of claims of victimisation and unfair dismissal.

• Represented the Defendant at a Costs and Cast Management Conference for an equal pay claim brought in the county court.

• Acted for the Claimant (an NHS doctor) at a hearing on employment status, to determine whether the Claimant was an employee working under: (i) an implied contract for the end user in a tripartite arrangement; and/or (ii) a fixed-term contract – succeeding in the latter argument.

• Drafted a letter before action for a breach of contract claim regarding unpaid invoices for services provided

• E Riley v St Pancras Hotel Services Ltd: 6005372/2024 – successfully represented the Respondent in a multi-day final hearing of claims of unfair and wrongful dismissal.

• Drafted contractual parental leave terms for a collective labour agreement between a global company and a major union

• Negotiated favourable settlement for the Defendant in a goods and services discrimination claim.

• Drafted grounds of response to parental leave and breach of contract claims for an international company, and advised on merits, remedy and litigation strategy.

• Advised on claims of conversion, action for money had and received, action for debt, action for knowing receipt, constructive trust (transfer of property), and restitution for unjust enrichment.

• Successfully represented the Respondent, resisting an application by the Claimant for reconsideration of a costs order made against him on the grounds that he failed to comply with tribunal orders and failed to actively pursue his claim.

• Advised multiple Claimants on merit and quantum for their (joined) claims for failure to make reasonable adjustments, discrimination arising from disability, harassment related to disability, and constructive dismissal.

• Drafted a letter of response and advised the Respondent on merits and quantum regarding a s.29 EqA goods and services direct discrimination and harassment claim.

• Drafted a complex particulars of claim for claims of discrimination arising from disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments, harassment related to disability, victimisation and constructive unfair dismissal.

• Successfully negotiated settlement for a figure significantly above the Claimant’s valuation of their unfair dismissal claim, achieving a favourable position regarding confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses.

• Successfully negotiated a high five-figure settlement sum for the Claimant (a former Senior Sales Executive and Director) in a complex whistleblowing unfair dismissal, detriment (including the ‘detriment-of-dismissal’) and ordinary unfair dismissal claim, against multiple respondents. Involved drafting a complex schedule of loss, advising on merits, quantum and pre-trial strategy.

• Acted for the Respondent, successfully resisting the Claimant’s amendment application to include claims of whistleblowing detriment, direct disability discrimination, race discrimination, and religion or belief discrimination.

• Acted for the Respondent in a successful deposit order application regarding the Claimant’s whistleblowing detriment claim.

• Acted for the Claimant, providing written advice and drafting an amended particulars of claim for claims of: failure to pay national minimum wage, breach of working time regulations, working time detriment, whistleblowing detriment and dismissal, and health and safety dismissal.

• Successfully represented the Respondent in an application for strike out of victimisation, sexual harassment, holiday pay, authorised deduction of wages and breach of contract claims.

• Successfully negotiated favourable settlement, including important non-financial terms, for a Claimant carer in an unfair dismissal claim. Involved drafting a schedule of loss, advising on merits and quantum, and delivering nuanced advice in a sensitive case.

• Successfully negotiated favourable settlement for a Claimant driver in a health and safety dismissal claim – drafted the schedule of loss and advised on merits/quantum.

Emma is instructed by Claimants on the full range of clinical negligence and personal injury matters.

During pupillage at Cloisters , Emma received training on dealing with complex spinal injury and cauda equina cases, public and employer’s liability claims, and drafting schedules of loss for high-value catastrophic injury claims.

Recent experience includes:

• Represented the Claimant in a stage 3 hearing for an employer’s liability claim.

• Provided written quantum advice for a case involving a burn injury to a child, for consideration by the court at an infant approval hearing.

• Assisted William-Latimer Sayer KC in successfully resisting a late application to adduce expert evidence in a complex, high value clinical negligence claim, by producing a comprehensive research note on the applicable law.

Qualifications

Bar Course, City Law School (Distinction, 86%), 2023

GDL, University of Law (Distinction, 87%), 2021

MA Theatre, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, 2012

BA English Language and Literature (European), University of Leeds (First Class), 2010

Awards

Lawworks Pro Bono Connect Award 2024

Gray’s Inn Bedingfield Scholarship (Bar Course merit-based / top award), 2022

City Law School Bar Vocational Studies Scholarship, 2022

University of Law Career-changer Scholarship (GDL merit-based / full-fee), 2020

Semi-finalist, University of Law GDL Moot, 2021

Emma updated Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Precedents of Pleadings 20th edition (2025): chapter 64 “The Human Rights Act 1998” and chapter 65 “References to the Court of Justice of the European Union”

Employment lawyers are well placed to bring and defend discrimination claims against service providers, ELA Briefing, February 2025

Could a purposive approach provide whistleblowing protection for charity trustees?, ELA Briefing, December 2024

Pro bono in pupillage, Counsel Magazine, September 2024.

To 47B or not to 47B? Whistleblowing claims following Wicked Vision, ELA Briefing, June 2024.

Balancing protection of reputation with freedom of expression: does the Defamation Act 2013 reverse the ‘chilling effect’ previous defamation law had on freedom of expression?, Gray’s Inn Student Law Journal, 2022.

Emma’s explainer videos on whistleblowing for Protect can be found at the following links:

• Protected Disclosures and Whistleblowing

• Whistleblowing: A Practical Guide

• 43J: Protection against NDAs

ILS (Executive Committee Member)

ELA

FRU

ALBA

Highlight cases include:

• Mr Naveed Bari v London Boroughs of Richmon and Wandsworth [2025] EAT 54 (sole counsel) – allowing all grounds of appeal, HHJ Auerbach gave helpful guidance on the correct approach to applications for specific disclosure and requests for information, and the conceptual difference between the two, at [33]-[47].

• Mr Charlie Forrest v Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL UK Branch [2025] EAT 81 (led by Olivia-Faith Dobbie) – successfully represented the Claimant/Appellant (assistance with drafting skeleton only) in his appeal against strike out of his claims of whistleblowing, disability discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and personal injury, for non-compliance with tribunal orders.

• Dr Nigel MacLennan v The British Psychological Society (Protect and The Charity Commission intervening) [2024] EAT 166 (led)–authority on (i) on the correct approach to establishing whether there has been a breach of Article 14 ECHR (at [55]-[60] and [103]-[105]), and authority that (ii) whistleblowing protection may flow from pre-work disclosures, where the requisite employment status has been achieved by the time of the alleged detriment/contravention (at [29]-[33] and [111]).

• M Birkett v Integral UK Ltd EAT/2022/000574 (sole counsel) – allowing both grounds of appeal, the EAT found that the ET had erred in law by making inadequate factual findings and giving inadequate reasons as to whether reasonable steps were taken by the Respondent to: (1) find the Claimant alternative employment, and (2) ensure that the recruitment process for the one vacancy for which the Claimant was interviewed was fair.