Rachel is sought-after for complex and substantial employment litigation, often involving novel points of law. She is Junior Counsel to the Leigh Day Claimants in their long-running equal pay case against Tesco, which has involved multiple appeals at all levels (see e.g. Tesco Stores Ltd v Element [2026] EWCA Civ 580) as well as lengthy first-instance trials on issues of equal value and material factor defences. A 2019 article in The Lawyer noted that Rachel was one of the top six female juniors in the Court of Appeal acting on employment cases. Rachel was recently nominated for Junior of the Year in Employment at the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2026. She relishes her employment practice because of the opportunity it provides to learn something new about different professions and workplaces in every case.

Rachel also has substantial expertise in discrimination issues in a wide variety of non-employment settings including education, associations (including political parties), provision of goods and services and the discharge of public functions. Her equality law practice spans judicial review and private damages claims. Rachel also undertakes investigation work into sexual harassment complaints.

Rachel is an experienced inquest lawyer with particular expertise in mental health, neurodiversity and substance misuse issues in prison, hospital and community settings. She is adept at calibrating her advocacy style to the inquisitorial nature of the inquest process, including for jury inquests. Recent and ongoing cases include:

-            acting for the family of a young woman who was prevented from accessing gynaecological care for severe PMS / PMDD while detained under the Mental Health Act;

-            two separate inquests concerning access to synthetic psychoactive substances and substance misuse services in prisons;

-            representing the family of a teenager with autism who died while on a years-long waiting list for therapeutic support.

Over the past 5 years Rachel has acted as Junior Counsel to two high profile public inquiries, the Infected Blood Inquiry and the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry.

Rachel’s work on the Infected Blood Inquiry spanned the life cycle of inquiry work, from drafting rule 9 requests, reviewing evidence, witness preparation, producing documents for publication, hearing advocacy and contributing to the Inquiry’s final report.

Rachel was invited to apply for the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry role in view of her dual expertise in discrimination law and inquest law. Rachel led on the issue of race in the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference, including preparing for and conducting advocacy at a dedicated hearing on issues of race discrimination.

Nominated for Legal 500 Bar Award 2026 - Junior of the Year in Employment

Nominated for Chambers Bar Award 2020 - Future Leader: Diversity and Inclusion

Inner Temple – BPTC Exhibition Award, Duke of Edinburgh Scholarship, and GDL Exhibition Award

Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition – Spirit of the Jessup Award

College of Law GDL Mooting Competition – First Prize

Arts and Humanities Research Council – Research Preparation Master's Award

School of Oriental and African Studies – School History Prize for Examination Results

University of Birmingham – Kendrick Prize for Examination Results

Chambers & Partners 2026 (Employment) - Editorial: “Rachel Barrett is an impressive employment law barrister who has made appearances before the highest UK courts. She acts on behalf of both claimant and respondent clients and handles a wide range of matters including breach of contract, whistle-blowing and disability discrimination.” References: “Rachel Barrett is fantastic to work with, technically brilliant, and also emotionally intelligent.” “Rachel cuts through in a way that not many barristers do and is great on her feet. She has got a razor-sharp intellect.” “Rachel Barrett has a very good court manner. She's calm and collected and then pounces on you, coming out of nowhere. It's very impressive to watch.”

Chambers & Partners 2026 (Inquests and Inquiries) - Editorial: “Rachel Barrett has an established employment, discrimination and human rights practice. She takes a junior counsel role in notable inquiries and frequently acts for bereaved families in inquests concerning mental health, including cases with media attention.” References: “She is intelligent and forensic in her approach and makes clients feel heard. On her feet, Rachel is very good and persuasive. She never shies away from difficult points.” “Rachel Barrett is extremely intelligent, very hard-working and has a great sense of judgement.” “Rachel goes above and beyond, and she genuinely cares about clients. She's incredibly skilful and very fearless in her advocacy, running circles around the defendants.”

Legal 500 2026 (Employment):“Rachel’s skill set is rare in that she combines top-level legal and strategic knowledge with excellent client communication skills. Rachel would be one of my first choices of counsel for employment and discrimination litigation. She is excellent in a team and is committed to her cases.”

Legal 500 2026 (Inquests and Inquiries): “She combines top-level legal and strategic knowledge with excellent client communication skills.”

Chambers & Partners 2025: (Employment) "Our client was extremely happy with the service received." "She has excellent knowledge of the case and the applicable law." "She's really impressive." "She really cuts to the heart of matters." "She was all over technical points of law and really understood what we were trying to achieve." "Rachel is great to work with and has a great manner with lay clients."

Legal 500 2025: (Employment) "An outstanding barrister who is thorough in her work.” (Inquests and inquiries) “She will produce excellent work in an incredibly short time.”

Chambers & Partners 2024: "Rachel is a highly impressive junior who is completely unflappable." "She is incredibly clever on the law." "Rachel is able to deal with vulnerabilities of clients professionally and sensitively. Her standard of advocacy is excellent despite the challenging nature of the cases she acts in."

Legal 500 2024: “Rachel is a standout barrister. Her technical ability is fabulous. She is particularly strong on discrimination cases. A real team player and wonderful with clients.”

Chambers & Partners 2023: "Rachel is a go-to for Employment Tribunal cases. She is superb on strategy, on the law and with clients." "She is an exceptional barrister."

Legal 500 2023: “Rachel is an extremely talented junior - smart beyond her years. She's brilliant for complex, technical matters, but equally smart when it comes to strategy, and particularly good on discrimination and whistleblowing cases. Her client-care skills are very good, she works incredibly hard, and is an excellent team player.”

Chambers & Partners 2022: "She is a brilliant tactical technician, who is really good at finding the answers." "She is able to pick up really complex issues very quickly and turn them into easily digestible facts, and she is very client and solicitor-friendly." "She has a very high level of empathy, she is very committed to her clients, especially vulnerable clients, and she will speak to them at their level."

Legal 500 2022: "Fantastic junior, who is bright, engaged and great with clients."

Chambers & Partners 2021: "She's incredibly thorough and perceptive, and has great client skills." "She navigates through tricky legal issues in a down-to-earth manner and puts everything into getting the right result for the client."

Chambers & Partners 2020: "Absolutely brilliant: very responsive and a tough cross-examiner." "A really smart barrister who really understands the dynamics of client relationships."

Chambers & Partners 2019: "Very responsive and easy to work with." "She has exceptional knowledge of employment and discrimination law." "She has the intellectual horsepower to tackle any issue and she is a natural team player."

Fee-paid Employment Judge from 2020

Member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission panel counsel

BHRC

ELBA

ELA

DLA

ALBA

HRLA

FRU

Justice

INQUEST

Advocate

• Co-author of Employment Law and Human Rights, 3rd Edn with Robin Allen KC, Rachel Crasnow KC, Anna Beale KC and Claire McCann.

• Author of the 'Employment Tribunal' and 'Employment - Proceedings in the High Court and County Court' sections in Bullen & Leake & Jacob's Precedents of Pleadings, 19th Edn.

• Co-author of the 'Human Rights Act' chapter in Supperstone, Goudie & Walker: Judicial Review, 7th Edn with Joshua Jackson.

• Co-author of the chapter on ‘Article 9: freedom of thought, conscience and religion' in Human Rights Practice loose-leaf from Sweet & Maxwell with Schona Jolly KC.

• Co-author of the ‘Psychiatric injury' chapter in Lewis & Buchan: Clinical Negligence, 8th Edn with Andrew Buchan.

• Named researcher in Baroness Hale's Mental Health Law, 6th Edn.

• Contributing author to Lexis PSL (Claims Against the Police and Public Sector Equality Duty practice notes).

• Contributing author to Practical Law Employment (Wrongful Dismissal practice note).

Bar Professional Training Course (Outstanding)

Graduate Diploma in Law (Distinction)

MA Chinese Studies (Distinction)

BA History (First Class)