Sheryn Omeri KC specialises in all aspects of Employment and Discrimination Law, including employment status, territorial jurisdiction and whistleblowing, as well as Public Law, Human Rights and Public International Law, International Criminal Law, and Clinical Negligence Law. Sheryn is instructed to appear at all levels of the Tribunal and Court structure, including the Employment Tribunal, EAT, County Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

EMPLOYMENT LAW

Sheryn was instructed (together with Jason Galbraith-Marten KC) on behalf of the lead Claimant Uber drivers in the employment status case of Aslam & Ors v Uber BV and Ors [2021] UKSC 5, in which the Supreme Court held that Uber drivers are workers. In the subsequent remedy proceedings, Sheryn was leading counsel for 1000 Claimants, instructed by two solicitors’ firms and leading senior junior, Tom Gillie of Matrix Chambers.

She has also advised the Independent Workers of Great Britain union on Uber's regulatory obligations. Sheryn is regularly instructed on behalf of respondent-employers on cases concerning employment status. In addition Sheryn is frequently invited to speak at international employment and labour law conferences and to provide media comment in the UK, Australia and France.

Sheryn is also widely published, including in the Cambridge Young Law Journal, the ELA Briefing, and the Journal of Personal Injury Law, for which she wrote a piece concerning the implications of the Uber employment litigation for employers' liability in the context of personal injury law.

Sheryn has advised a number of victims of Harvey Weinstein in cases touching on employment law, personal injury and human rights. She has recently acted for bankers, doctors and solicitors who have brought discrimination and victimisation claims. She appeared for Dr Shankar Chappiti in his claim of race discrimination against a large NHS Trust.

Sheryn was counsel for the respondent-employer in Barton v Royal Borough of Greenwich UKEAT/0041/14/DXA, one of the few whistleblowing cases specifically to consider the definition of a 'protected disclosure' in the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Sheryn appeared for the Respondent (led by Jason Galbraith-Marten KC) in the cross-over employment/human rights case of Turner v East Midlands Trains [2013] ICR 525 in which the Court of Appeal held, consistently with the Respondent's case, that the range of reasonable responses test applicable to cases of alleged unfair dismissal complies with the UK's obligations pursuant to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In relation to her Australian practice, Sheryn acted for Reem Yelda, in her sexual harassment and sex discrimination claim against Sydney Water before NCAT, obtaining the highest possible damages award for her client. Sheryn then appeared for Ms Yelda before the Fair Work Commission which, consistently with Ms Yelda’s case, held that she had been constructively dismissed by Sydney Water; Sheryn successfully defended this outcome on appeal. Sheryn regularly appears for senior executives as well as for respondent-employers.

Sheryn appeared for Australian-British pianist, Jayson Gillham in a three-week, livestreamed trial of a ground-breaking case of political belief discrimination resulting from Mr Gillham’s treatment by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra after he made comments supportive of Palestinian journalists. She further acted for former bar- and wait-staff of Australian hospitality giant, Swillhouse, who were subjected to sexual harassment and discrimination. Sheryn is instructed by famous Australian journalist and former news anchor, Mary Kostakidis in a high-profile discrimination claim brought against her by the Chief Executive of the Australian Zionist Federation concerning two tweets posted by Ms Kostakidis.

PUBLIC LAW

Sheryn is Head of Cloisters' Public and Administrative Law Group. She is instructed (together with Sonali Naik KC and Harry Harris) on behalf of an asylum seeker who was unlawfully detained pursuant to the Detained Fast Track procedure in a case concerning Public, Immigration and Personal Injury Law. She recently acted for claimants based in Hackney and Lambeth on planning claims brought in the Administrative Court challenging the imposition of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods without consultation with disabled residents. Sheryn was previously instructed (together with Hugh Southey KC) on behalf of a potential intervenor in R (Dolan) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2020] EWHC 3857 (Admin) challenging public health orders imposed at the outset of the covid-19 pandemic. Together with Leslie Thomas KC, she appeared in R (on the application of Sargeant) v First Minister of Wales [2019] 4 WLR 64 on behalf of the widow of the late Carl Sargeant, Welsh Assembly Member who committed suicide after being suspended from the Labour Party by the then First Minister, in 2017.

She has also been instructed in judicial review proceedings challenging decisions of a Magistrates' and Crown Court to prolong the Claimant's detention without charge pursuant to s.152 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, in proceedings challenging the age discriminatory aspects of the IVF Policy of a Clinical Commissioning Group and in proceedings challenging decisions of the Home Secretary affecting two Claimants on death row in Arkansas and Pakistan respectively (led by Judith Farbey KC, formerly of Doughty Street Chambers, now Mrs Justice Farbey).

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

In early 2015, Sheryn worked in the Prosecution Division of the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, principally on the case of Prosecutor v Al Faqi Al Mahdi. This was the first prosecution for the war crime of destruction of cultural property and the first occasion upon which a defendant offered to plead guilty before the ICC in the history of that court.

In early 2024, Sheryn was instructed on an Article 15 communication referring the Australian Prime Minister together with other members of the Australian Parliament to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for investigation in relation to allegations of complicity in genocide in Gaza. Sheryn was interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s News Breakfast programme in respect of this matter.

In the same year, Sheryn was interviewed on four separate occasions on Australian television, providing expert legal commentary on the public international law implications of the war on Gaza.

In 2024, Sheryn also launched her podcast Talking International Law with Sheryn Omeri KC, on Spotify.

In 2018 and 2019, Sheryn was invited to speak at the Peace Palace at the Annual Conference of the IBA's War Crimes Committee.

Previously, Sheryn was instructed by the Kurdish Human Rights Project (now the Democratic Progress Institute) to act for one hundred Armenian workers in a case pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

PERSONAL INJURY / CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE

Sheryn is regularly instructed to advise on and appear in personal injury and clinical negligence cases on the multi-track and in the High Court. Sheryn is presently instructed on behalf of the Claimant, victim of internal trafficking, in a high value personal injury claim against a brothel owner. In 2016 Sheryn appeared in the High Court case of London v Southampton City Council on behalf of the Claimant widow and executrix of the estate of Geoffrey London who had passed away as a result of the negligence of the Defendant. Sheryn also appeared on behalf of the Claimant in the clinical negligence case of Wilson v Countess of Chester Hospital concerning the negligent performance of a cataract operation.

Previously Sheryn acted (led by William Latimer-Sayer KC and Frank Burton KC) in a multi-claimant dispute against Godstone Farm concerning an outbreak of E. Coli affecting over one hundred children.

PRIOR TO CLOISTERS

In Australia, Sheryn was judicial assistant to the Honourable Justice Margaret Beazley AO, President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal and first woman to be appointed to that Court. Following this, Sheryn worked for and advised the Coalition of New South Wales Aboriginal Legal Services, the peak body representing the interests of the six Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services in New South Wales (ATSILS). Sheryn also published extensively, drawing attention to the discriminatory practices of police and courts in relation to Aboriginal Australians.

After the fusion of the six ATSILS, Sheryn worked as a criminal defence solicitor (advocate) and appeared in the Local, Children's, District and Supreme Courts of New South Wales on behalf of Aboriginal clients charged with all manner of criminal offence.

Sheryn was invited to the UK to work at Doughty Street Chambers where she became researcher to Richard Hermer KC (now Attorney-General, the Rt Hon Lord Hermer KC) in his capacity as head of the International Law Team. Later Sheryn worked for Leigh Day & Co Solicitors, specialising in product liability and was involved in multi-claimant actions with an international dimension.

In addition to her diverse experience in the law, Sheryn is fluent in French and Farsi, having won a scholarship to study at the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques ('Sciences Po') in Paris where she was first in International Relations. Sheryn was subsequently awarded the University of Sydney University Medal for her thesis concerning the history and contemporary manifestations of the nationalist movement in Corsica.