Tamar Burton
Call: 2012
Call 020 7827 4000
Expertise
Clinical Negligence
Equality and Discrimination
Employment
Personal Injury
Inquests
“Tamar Burton is thorough and client-focused.” “Tamar's attention to the human detail of cases is exceptional. She puts clients at ease and is comfortable explaining difficult points of quantum and strategy. She's ferociously bright, but thoroughly nice and a great person to work with on every type of case.” “She is an extremely good personal injury barrister.” - Chambers & Partners 2027, Personal Injury
“She takes a strategic and proactive approach to cases, providing clear direction and consistently working towards the best possible outcome for our clients.” “She has an intimidating depth of knowledge, is excellent with medical experts in conference and her client care skills are notable.” “She has a laser-like focus on crucial detail while maintaining perspective on the bigger picture.” - Chambers & Partners 2027, Clinical Negligence
“Forceful representation at JSMs through a thorough grasp of the details grounded by a common sense approach.” - Legal 500 2027, Clinical Negligence
“Tamar demonstrates outstanding client care with the right blend of empathy and advice, particularly in an inquest environment.” Legal 500 2027, Inquests and inquiries
“Strength in client care and explaining the legal process in a clear and empathetic way.” Legal 500 2027, Personal Injury
“Excellent junior counsel with exceptional attention to detail and impressive advocacy.” - Legal 500 2025, Clinical Negligence
“Tamar is a smart negotiator, and is very impressive. During a round table meeting she deals with particularly emotional clients in unusual situations with tact and sympathy whilst remaining rock solid in her negotiations. She develops a clear tactical strategy and deploys it to brilliant effect.” - Legal 500 2025, Personal Injury
"Tamar is an incredibly impressive counsel, incredibly sharp and meticulous in her approach." "She is kind, empathetic and reassuring." "Tamar is an excellent barrister who is responsive and excellent with clients." - Chambers & Partners 2025, Clinical Negligence
"She is very user-friendly and disciplined at planning her work." "She is very skilled at helping emotional clients." "Tamar is a fierce litigator with a gentle and unassuming manner." "She has impressive skills in quantifying complex, high-value claims." "Tamar is always extremely well prepared and understands the issues in a claim thoroughly." - Chambers & Partners 2025, Personal Injury
“An impressive junior counsel with great analytical skills and a sharp legal brain.” - Legal 500 2024, Clinical Negligence
“Thorough, well-prepared and approachable for clients.” - Legal 500 2024, Personal Injury
“Tamar Burton acts exclusively for claimants in a range of clinical negligence claims and has particular experience in cases involving informed consent. She also has experience in personal injury and inquest work.” - Chambers & Partners 2024, Clinical Negligence
“Tamar is the consummate junior who has everything: she is efficient, hardworking and nothing is too much trouble. Exceptional people and client-management skills.” - Legal 500 2023, Clinical Negligence
“Tamar is fantastic; switched-on, effective, personable and incredibly hardworking. Super junior counsel in big cases – contributes beyond her years.” - Legal 500 2023, Personal Injury
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Tamar Burton's practice has a strong focus on clinical negligence, personal injury, inquests, employment and discrimination work. She is instructed in courts and tribunals at every level, including appearing in the Supreme Court on two occasions.
CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE & PERSONAL INJURY
Tamar exclusively acts for claimants in her clinical negligence and personal injury work.
She appears led and unled in a range of clinical negligence cases involving claims against GPs, dentists as well as NHS and private hospitals. She has a particular interest in informed consent and co-authored the chapter on consent in Lewis & Buchan A Practical Guide.
She is regularly instructed in challenging claims involving birth injuries as well as claims involving traumatic and non-traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries and amputations.
In her personal injury work, Tamar acts for claimants following train crashes, accidents at theme parks, in school playgrounds as well as those injured on the roads and in workplaces. She is dedicated to achieving the best possible outcome for those who have suffered life-changing injuries.
Tamar has a particular interest in the assessment of damages and is currently the Assistant Secretary to the Ogden Working Party. She is also an author for Bullen and Leake for the chapter on personal injury.
Tamar is frequently led by William Latimer-Sayer KC, Simon Taylor KC, Joel Donovan KC, Simon Dyer KC and Sarah Fraser Butlin KC in high-value clinical negligence and personal injury work. She has particular expertise in drafting complex, multi-million-pound schedules of loss in these cases.
She is regularly instructed to draft pleadings, to lead conferences with experts and for procedural applications in front of the KBD Masters, in addition to attending joint settlement meetings, mediations and trials. She has experience of contested multi-day High Court liability and quantum trials as well as frequently appearing in CCMCs, interim payment applications and approval hearings. The majority of her cases resolve on a confidential basis following JSMs.
In a crossover between her injuries and employment work, Tamar also has specific expertise in representing those who are victims of sexual assault, harassment and exploitation, where limitation is frequently in issue. She has acted for a number of individuals who have experienced non-recent sexual abuse.
INQUESTS
Tamar acts exclusively for families in her inquest work. She is instructed in jury and non-jury inquests involving deaths at work, in care homes, in prisons and in hospitals.
She is committed to ensuring that bereaved families are placed at the heart of the inquest.
She acted for the family of Martha Mills, which was reported nationally: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/mar/04/girl-13-likely-to-have-survived-if-moved-to-intensive-care-coroner-rules
Tamar recently acted for the family of a man, who had absconded while detained under s. 2 MHA, securing 5 Prevention of Future Death Reports against an NHS Trust.
She has been involved in a number of cases where a finding of neglect has been made, both in medical and non-medical settings.
She is regularly instructed in article 2 and non-article 2 inquests and is happy to be instructed on legal aid rates as well as to advise on the prospects of civil claims arising from an inquest conclusion.
INQUIRIES AND INVESTIGATIONS
From 2018 to 2024 Tamar was appointed as junior counsel to the Infected Blood Inquiry, chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff. Within the Inquiry, she had a particular focus on the impact of blood-borne viruses on infected people and their families. She provided oral advocacy to the Inquiry as well as a number of written presentations.
Tamar presently acts for the Labour Party as an independent investigator into allegations of sexual harassment.
Tamar also undertakes workplace investigations concerning disciplinary and grievance matters.
EMPLOYMENT & DISCRIMINATION
In her employment and discrimination work, Tamar acts for employers and employees in the tribunal and the civil courts.
Tamar appeared in the Supreme Court in in Costantine v Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia [2025] UKSC 9, concerning state immunity and the application of international law to administrative and technical workers. She was led by Sarah Fraser Butlin KC. Tamar’s oral submissions were acknowledged as “very helpful” by the Court in its judgment. Tamar previously appeared unled for Ms Costantine in the Employment Tribunal and in the Court of Appeal.
For a number of years Tamar has been involved with a series of claims brought by judicial and non-judicial office holders for pensions under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 arising from the Supreme Court's decision in O'Brien v Ministry of Justice [2013] I.C.R. 499.
Tamar was instructed in the Court of Justice of the EU in O'Brien v Ministry of Justice (Case C-432/17) and in the Supreme Court as a junior to Robin Allen KC and Rachel Crasnow KC in Miller and O'Brien v MOJ [2017] UKSC 46.
She was instructed in the EAT in an appeal concerning non-judicial office holders in Moultrie v MOJ [2015] IRLR 264, in the assessment of remedy in O'Brien v MOJ as well as by a group of Circuit Judges in Clayson v MOJ [2024] EAT 99, led by Rachel Crasnow KC on each occasion. She has been instructed by a number of individual fee-paid judges in pursuing claims arising from the O'Brien litigation.
Tamar also has a particular interest in worker status. She successfully represented a cycle courier, instructed on behalf of the Independent Workers of Great Britain trade union, against Addison Lee. She appeared unled. The result was widely reported, for example: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/02/addison-lee-suffers-latest-defeat-in-legal-row-over-gig-economy-rights. She successfully resisted the Respondent's appeal in the EAT ([2018] ICR 1826) led by Peter Oldham KC. The Respondent's permission to appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeal.
Prior to commencing pupillage, Tamar was a litigation executive at Slater & Gordon. She was heavily involved in representing those sexually assaulted by Jimmy Savile and attended the Dame Janet Smith Inquiry with clients. She also had responsibility for multiple product liability claims arising from the DePuy ASR hip implant and assisted on clinical negligence claims against the breast surgeon Ian Paterson.
Tamar previously worked as an intern at Hackney Community Law Centre specialising in housing, social security and employment law. She is a volunteer for Advocate.
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Diplock Scholarship, Middle Temple for the GDL
Diplock Scholarship, Middle Temple for the BPTC
Slate Award for outstanding work on the Jimmy Savile case
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“Tamar Burton is thorough and client-focused.” “Tamar's attention to the human detail of cases is exceptional. She puts clients at ease and is comfortable explaining difficult points of quantum and strategy. She's ferociously bright, but thoroughly nice and a great person to work with on every type of case.” “She is an extremely good personal injury barrister.” - Chambers & Partners 2027, Personal Injury
“She takes a strategic and proactive approach to cases, providing clear direction and consistently working towards the best possible outcome for our clients.” “She has an intimidating depth of knowledge, is excellent with medical experts in conference and her client care skills are notable.” “She has a laser-like focus on crucial detail while maintaining perspective on the bigger picture.” - Chambers & Partners 2027, Clinical Negligence
“Forceful representation at JSMs through a thorough grasp of the details grounded by a common sense approach.” - Legal 500 2027, Clinical Negligence
“Tamar demonstrates outstanding client care with the right blend of empathy and advice, particularly in an inquest environment.” Legal 500 2027, Inquests and inquiries
“Strength in client care and explaining the legal process in a clear and empathetic way.” Legal 500 2027, Personal Injury
Legal 500 2025: (Clinical Negligence) “Excellent junior counsel with exceptional attention to detail and impressive advocacy.”
(Personal Injury)“Tamar is a smart negotiator, and is very impressive. During a round table meeting she deals with particularly emotional clients in unusual situations with tact and sympathy whilst remaining rock solid in her negotiations. She develops a clear tactical strategy and deploys it to brilliant effect.”
Chambers & Partners 2025: (Clinical Negligence) "Tamar is an incredibly impressive counsel, incredibly sharp and meticulous in her approach." "She is kind, empathetic and reassuring." "Tamar is an excellent barrister who is responsive and excellent with clients."
(Personal Injury) "She is very user-friendly and disciplined at planning her work." "She is very skilled at helping emotional clients." "Tamar is a fierce litigator with a gentle and unassuming manner." "She has impressive skills in quantifying complex, high-value claims." "Tamar is always extremely well prepared and understands the issues in a claim thoroughly."
Legal 500 2024: (Clinical Negligence) “An impressive junior counsel with great analytical skills and a sharp legal brain.”
(Personal Injury) “Thorough, well-prepared and approachable for clients.”
Chambers & Partners 2024: (Clinical Negligence) "She's very detailed, has a good grasp of the papers, is good with the clients and is very methodical and detail." "Tamar is very thorough and great with clients." "She is absolutely brilliant with client management and a strong advocate."
Legal 500 2023: (Clinical Negligence) “Tamar is the consummate junior who has everything: she is efficient, hardworking and nothing is too much trouble. Exceptional people and client-management skills.
(Personal Injury) “Tamar is fantastic; switched-on, effective, personable and incredibly hardworking. Super junior counsel in big cases – contributes beyond her years.”
Legal 500 2022: "A wonderful advocate who is dominant in court and exceptionally well prepared."
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Assistant Secretary to the Ogden Working Party
Junior Counsel to Infected Blood Inquiry
Employment Lawyers Association
Industrial Law Society
Personal Injury Bar Association
AvMA
FRU
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Co-author of the chapter on consent in Lewis & Buchan A Practical Guide
Co-author of chapter on personal injury in Bullen & Leake
Tamar regularly gives talks to solicitors on a range of clinical negligence, personal injury and employment law topics.
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BA in History, University of York
MA in the History of International Relations, London School of Economics (Distinction)
GDL and BPTC, City Law School
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COURT OF JUSTICE EU
O'Brien v Ministry of Justice (No.2) C-432/17: the CJEU considered the future effects principle and its application to the question of when time starts to run in pension claims. Led by Robin Allen KC and Rachel Crasnow KC.
SUPREME COURT
The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia (Cultural Bureau) v Costantine [2025] UKSC 9: led by Sarah Fraser Butlin KC, concerning state immunity and establishing that the Benkharbouche test applies to administrative and technical workers of an embassy.
Miller and O'Brien v MOJ [2017] UKSC 46: the Supreme Court considered the EU-derived Future Effects Principle and made a preliminary reference to the CJEU. Junior to Robin Allen KC and Rachel Crasnow KC.
COURT OF APPEAL
The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia (Cultural Bureau) v Costantine [2024] EWCA Civ 332: Tamar appeared unled concerning the application of state immunity in circumstances where a state fails to attend its own appeal.
EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL
Clayson v Ministry of Justice [2024] EAT 99: the appeal concerned the pension rights of a group of Circuit Judges who had previously held fee-paid positions. Led by Rachel Crasnow KC.
TYU v ILA Spa Ltd [2021] EA-2019-000983: the appeal concerned the application of rule 50 anonymity orders to third parties. Tamar appeared unled.
Addison Lee v Gascoigne [2018] ICR 1826: the EAT dismissed the Respondent's appeal in gig economy case. Led by Peter Oldham KC.
Chandhok v Tirkey [2015] IRLR 195: the first case in the EAT to consider whether caste-based discrimination falls within the confines of s. 9 Equality Act 2010. Junior to Chris Milsom.
Moultrie v Ministry of Justice [2015] IRLR 264: an EAT appeal concerning the pension entitlement of medical members in the First-Tier Tribunal and the meaning of the "same or broadly similar" test under the PTWR. Junior to Rachel Crasnow KC.
Charles v Tesco (UKEAT/0074/15/MC): an EAT appeal concerning the finding of contributory conduct. Tamar appeared unled.
HIGH COURT
Easton v B & Q Plc [2015] EWHC 880 (QB): Tamar appeared as junior counsel to Andrew Buchan in an occupational stress claim.
COUNTY COURT
Bidwell-Richards v Crouch [2018]: Tamar appeared in a contested quantum trial relating to knee injuries sustained in a road traffic accident, beating the Claimant’s own Part 36 offer and achieving additional damages and interest for her client.
