Equalities

Equalities disputes arise in a multitude of contexts, including central or local government policy and legislation, employment, education, planning, taxation, healthcare, professional regulation, housing, transport, media and sport, to name a few.

Our barristers have experience running systemic and individual challenges in direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, failures to make reasonable adjustments, harassment and victimisation. This includes utilising concepts from international equalities instruments such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

We advise on and act in cases concerning institutional racism and other institutional forms of discrimination and inequality.  Our barristers are at the forefront of legal developments in LGBTQ+ rights.

Our barristers have experience acting internationally in the context of treaty and monitoring bodies.

We advise and act for both claimants and respondents as well as interveners and interested parties.

Our clients include central and local government, regulators, businesses, trade unions, charities, interest groups, trustees, individuals, and statutory and non-statutory inquiries and reviews.

We have barristers on the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel and the Equality and Human Rights Commission panel of counsel. Several of our barristers act for the Office of the Official Solicitor and CAFCASS. For more information on which panels our barristers are on, contact plc@39essex.com.

Many of our barristers have security clearance and developed vetting (DV clearance) and act in cases concerning national security, the security services or those suspected of terrorist involvement or subject to international sanctions.

Our barristers act in statutory tribunals, the Employment Tribunal, judicial review hearings and statutory appeals from the High Court to the Supreme Court.

Internationally, our barristers have appeared in the Court of Justice of the European Union, European Court of Human Rights, as well as various international treaty bodies.

Several of our barristers are also qualified in the Republic of Ireland and other jurisdictions.