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Christian Grierson

Christian Grierson

Associate

020 7405 4600

Contact by email

Christian regularly provides legal advice on all manner of employment law issues. He has particular experience of working with public sector organisations in defending complex employment tribunal claims.

Christian also has a wide range of civil litigation experience such as judicial review, compensation claims in the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) and commercial disputes in the Technology and Construction Court.

Christian’s role:

Christian frequently delivers advice and training on changes to employment law and professional conduct rules for large employers.

He regularly provides legal advice on all manner of employment and governance issues. Christian has particular experience working with public sector organisations to advise on TUPE implications for outsourcing agreements, reviewing a wide range of contractual arrangements and redundancy/restructuring processes.

Skills and strengths:

Christian adopts a diligent and pragmatic approach to ensure that his client’s objectives are met.

Fortuitously preparing for an Employment Tribunal isn’t something you do often, and so Kit’s [Christian] reassuring, patient and expert guidance throughout proved invaluable.  Every question was welcomed and the whole process was handled professionally from start to close

Executive Director at a Local Authority

Kit/Christian  is extremely professional and thorough with great attention to detail and supported us throughout in successfully winning our employment case. He is an excellent writer and able to simplify complex issues

Head of Sustainability & Major Works at a Local Authority

The recent support from Kit in dealing with an incredibly challenging and complex tribunal case was greatly appreciated. His ability to provide clear advice and navigate through the unusual circumstances enabled us to prepare and successfully defend the claims. Kit’s calm and approachable manner combined with his investment in providing excellent service and expertise in guiding us through, made this difficult event more manageable

Head of HR at a Fire Service

It is always a pleasure to receive instructions from Kit. He has excellent judgment and his cases are always extremely well prepared. This was a tricky case that required sensitive handling and Kit was mindful of ensuring that the claimant was able to obtain a fair hearing in difficult circumstances whilst also advancing his own client’s case.

Barrister

Christian was extremely helpful throughout the tribunal process and ensured I had clear instructions from start to finish. He dealt well with any unexpected developments, such as the late addition of documents by the litigant in person. Further, he prepared a helpful bundle and drafted thorough witness statements, allowing me to use the written evidence to prepare my arguments and cross-examination. His support and preparation played a key role in the successful outcome of the case.

Barrister

  • Central Government
  • Education Providers
  • Local Government
  • Data, Privacy and Information Law
  • Employment
  • Human Rights
  • Judicial Review
  • Litigation
  • Outsourcing and Shared Services
  • Pensions
  • Public Law
  • TUPE

Employment:

  • Housing Department of a London Borough: Successfully defending a local authority in an 8-day unfair dismissal, age and race discrimination claim arising from a restructure. The case involved 10 witnesses with the majority at director or executive director level.
  • Fire Service: Successfully defending a fire service in a 5-day unfair dismissal and race discrimination claim. The allegations spanned a period of 20 years and made reference to ‘institutional racism’.
  • Housing Support Services Division of a London Borough: Successfully defending a local authority in a 5-whistleblowing claim arising from an agency worker. The case involved alleged whistleblowing in relation to a high-profile, government-funded housing programme.
  • Local Authority and School: Successfully struck out a disability discrimination and harassment claim on the first day of a 5-day hearing owing to the Claimant’s failure to comply with orders and progress their claim.

Litigation:

  • Instructed to progress a case in the Upper Tribunal on liability, involving six expert witnesses, novel points of law and a large amount of documentary evidence.
  • Instructed by a government agency to act in respect of commercial arbitration.
  • Instructed to support central government and other public authorities on the defence of judicial review claims. Including the successful defence of a renewal application where permission had been refused.

We have written previously on the string of recent cases confirming that in judicial review litigation the duty of candour ordinarily requires the names of junior civil servants to be disclosed in unredacted form when providing disclosure. In a recent decision – MTA v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Ors [2024] EWHC…

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Court of Appeal confirms approach to redactions of names of junior civil servants In a unanimous judgment, the Court of Appeal has dismissed the government’s appeal of a High Court judgment which proscribed the government’s practice of routinely redacting the names of junior civil servants when supplying disclosure in judicial review proceedings. R (IAB and…

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Under the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023, the Secretary of State has the power to set Minimum Service Levels (MSLs) for “relevant services” in the fields of health, transport, education, fire and rescue, border control, and nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management services. We previously wrote…

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In a major blow to the Government, new regulations which permitted employers to use agency workers to replace those on strike, has been found to be unlawful and so has been quashed, removing it from the statute books. In the case of R (on the application of ASLEF and  Ors) v the Secretary of State…

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