Overview
Kirsten is a skilled and experienced client-friendly advocate who is known for her straightforward and down to earth approach. Solicitors and clients have, over the years, consistently commented on Kirsten’s good humour and ability to put the client at ease in the most difficult of situations. Her client care skills are second to none.
Kirsten now practices exclusively in employment law but has years of experience as a personal injury lawyer specialising in fraud. This has proved to be an advantage, particularly when dealing with disability discrimination cases and complex remedy hearings.
Kirsten quickly cuts through peripheral matters to get to the core of a case and is known for her attention to detail and meticulous preparation.
In her spare time Kirsten is a keen traveller and a border terrier enthusiast!
Employment
Kirsten has a wide-ranging employment practice, acting for both Claimants and Respondents and appearing in tribunals nationwide. She advises on everything from redundancy to whistleblowing and has amassed a great deal of experience in disability discrimination and constructive dismissal cases in particular. Kirsten also represented the Claimants in the Glasgow ET in the landmark holiday pay claim, Bear Scotland v Fulton & Baxter (EATS/0047/13/B1), which was unsuccessfully appealed by the Respondent.
Kirsten has represented a wide rage of clients including New Look, Primark, Barclays, Easyjet, British Airways and Network Rail. She regularly represents a number of utility companies and local authorities and has a wealth of experience in the education sector, representing primary and secondary schools together with a number of universities on a regular basis. A number of her university and school cases have been dealt with by the EAT and one school case is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal imminently.
Kirsten provides advice to both shop floor workers and senior executives on a range of employment issues. She has represented clients in internal disciplinary matters and appeal hearings including attending the former General Teaching Council on behalf of a client.
Kirsten is known for her friendly and down to earth manner. She provides clear, robust advice, yet always remains sensitive to the situation and the particular needs of her client. She is an obvious choice for difficult cases and has been commended by judges on many occasions for her handling of some particularly sensitive matters.
Kirsten enjoys good working relationships with all of her instructing solicitors and will always go the extra mile, whether that is a quick turnaround of an advice or dealing with an urgent out of hours query. She believes that a strong collaborative approach to litigation between barrister and solicitor can make a real difference to the outcome of a case.
Notable Cases
Bashir v Star Academies 3335070/2018: 15 day case representing the Respondent Academy involving multiple issues and where all complaints of disability discrimination and whistleblowing were dismissed.
McManus v South Ribble Borough Council & Others 2411568/2019: successfully represented the Council and senior politicians in a complex whistleblowing claim brought by the former chief executive and which attracted nationwide interest.
Neto v Packaging Automation Ltd & Johnson 18.10.21: successfully represented the Respondents in a disability discrimination case involving a stammer. This was a sensitive case involving careful cross -examination and resulted in the Tribunal concluding that the Claimant’s stammer did not amount to a disability on the facts. The outcome was widely reported in the national press.
McLaughlin v Matalan 4102482/2022: successfully represented the Respondent in an application for a deposit order in a disability discrimination matter after 2 days of legal argument and submissions. Kirsten’s experience of personal injury litigation proved to be invaluable in this case.
Personal Injury
Kirsten is instructed in all areas of personal injury work but particularly in road traffic fraud matters, occupier’s liability and tripping claims. She has a particular interest in LVI and staged accidents, exaggerated and bogus passenger claims and regularly provides advice to both Claimants and Defendant insurers on such matters.
Kirsten is known for her friendly and down to earth manner. She provides practical, robust advice, yet always remains sensitive to the situation and needs of her client.
Associations
Employment Lawyers Association
Education
LLB, University of Sheffield
BPTC, Inns of Court School (London)
