Antony Sendall

Acknowledged as a leading practitioner in employment law and an expert in sports law, Antony's practice also includes an element of commercial law and some professional negligence work. He has been described in the directories and legal press as "an excellent advocate", with a "sharp intellect and sound knowledge of law", "tenacious and well-prepared", "ready to roll up his sleeves" and as "one of the most incisive juniors I know; give him a pile of papers and he will cut through to the core". He is also rated for his "strong cross-examination skills", for being "bright, decisive and commercial" and "a pleasure to work with and a great person to have on the team". He "really works hard to make a difference to a case".

In employment law, Antony's experience covers all aspects, including, unfair and wrongful dismissal, redundancy, restraint of trade, garden leave and confidential information, transfers of undertakings, discrimination, equal pay, strike injunctions and some non-contentious work.

Antony's sports law work has involved him in a number of high profile cases covering employment and disciplinary issues as well as some sponsorship and TV rights work. Notably, he obtained the first garden leave injunction involving the manager of a football team (Steve Bruce).

Having appeared in numerous reported cases, his leading cases include: Stewart -v- New Testament Church of God, Celtec Ltd -v- Astley & Ors.,TFS Derivatives Ltd -v- Morgan, Rock Refrigeration Ltd -v- Jones, William Hill Organization Ltd -v- Tucker, Universal Thermosensors -v- Hibben and Terry Venables -v- Tottenham Hotspur plc.

Antony also lectures widely on employment law and has a strong commitment to pro bono work.

According to one prominent employment lawyer, he also ""has a lovely sense of humour and is great to work with"

EDUCATION

After attending the Royal Grammar School High Wycombe (1972-9), Antony studied law at Cambridge University (1980-3) where he obtained a First Class Honours degree. Having come fourth in order of merit in the Bar Finals Exams, he was called to the Bar in 1984 and became a member of chambers in October 1985.

He is a member of the Industrial Law Society, the Employment Law Bar Association, the Employment Lawyers Association, the Bar Sports Law Group, the British Association for Sport & The Law, the Professional Negligence Bar Association, the London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association and a Chambers member of COMBAR.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Antony combines excellent advocacy and advisory skills with good commercial common sense and a generous helping of good humour to provide a service that is both utterly professional and 'user-friendly'. A highly regarded cross-examiner, he particularly enjoys the 'cut and thrust' of trial advocacy. However, he is equally at home seeking to persuade a High Court Judge to give his clients the urgent injunction they are seeking or debating the rococo intricacies of some provision of an obscure statutory instrument in the Court of Appeal. He also has good negotiating and mediating skills that are nowadays such crucial weapons in the armoury of an effective litigator.

Antony came to the Bar with the intention of practising in the field of employment law and rapidly established himself as a leading practitioner. His work covers all areas of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious and he regularly appears both in the High Court and in Employment Tribunals in all types of employment law cases. He was recently dubbed "God's employment lawyer" by colleagues after appearing for two different churches in quick succession in high profile cases involving the employment status of clergy.

Never afraid to test the boundaries of this area of law, Antony has appeared in a number of the leading cases. In particular, he appeared in TFS Derivatives Ltd -v- Morgan which raised important issues concerning the construction, interpretation and enforceability of post-termination covenants as well as the interplay between garden leave and the doctrine of restraint of trade. He also appeared in William Hill Organization Ltd -v- Tucker which dealt with the right to work and the need for an express garden leave clause in contracts of employment; and in Rock Refrigeration Ltd -v- Jones which raised questions over the effect of a repudiatory breach on post-termination restrictions.

He advises frequently on cases involving a complex mixture of restrictive covenants, garden leave and confidential information and appears often in the High Court both making and defending applications for injunctions to restrain the alleged unlawful activities of current and former employees, directors of companies and partners. He is able to respond quickly and effectively on short notice in what are often very urgent circumstances. Being quite computer-literate, he has a good grasp of the tactical importance of good forensic computing evidence.

Often regarded as being one of the most intellectually complex areas of employment law, Antony has always had a keen interest in TUPE. He has advised on and appeared in a wide range of TUPE matters for transferors, transferees and affected employees. He has even had two sports-related TUPE cases (see below). He was also involved in drafting the petition to the House of Lords and the Observations for the ECJ in Celtec -v- Astley.

A large proportion of Antony's employment tribunal practice in recent years has involved cases in most areas of discrimination. He has wide experience of sex, race and disability discrimination but has also advised on a number of age discrimination cases. He has recently appeared in a complex tribunal hearing involving discrimination against fixed term employees for the Meat & Livestock Commission. On one occasion, he acted for a trans-gendered individual whose employer was unaware that she was previously a man and had allegedly discriminated against her by not giving her a promotion because she was a woman.

He also has experience of discrimination claims in the county court, having appeared in a discrimination claim involving the exclusion of Romany gypsies from a leisure complex and one involving alleged race discrimination by a school against a pupil.

Despite being "God's employment lawyer (see above), he is still waiting for his first case on discrimination on the grounds of religious belief.

Antony has been involved in various equal pay issues and is currently engaged in advising upon a series of complex claims involving the role of the trade unions in advising and representing their members in connection with equal pay claims.

Industrial Disputes and Strike Injunctions

Industrial disputes and strike injunctions have always formed a distinct niche area in Antony's employment law practice. He has been involved in advising upon or seeking injunctions in various industries including train operating companies, bus companies, print media, aviation, the fire service, and the postal service. He has also been involved in defending a multi-claimant unfair dismissal dispute alleging dismissal for trade union reasons arising out of a long running industrial dispute in the steel industry.

As the 'bread and butter' of any employment lawyer's work, Antony has advised upon and appeared in countless unfair and wrongful dismissal claims, for employers and employees both in Employment Tribunals and in the appellate courts.

Antony has wide experience of both contentious and non-contentious redundancy issues and has been involved in numerous claims for unfair dismissal and/or protective awards arising out of redundancy situations.

As well as a full range of contentious employment work, Antony also has experience of advising on non-contentious issues in transfers of undertakings, the rationalisation or amendment of terms and conditions, the management of redundancy programmes, managing working time, as well the drafting of employment contracts and associated documents such as disciplinary and other policies and procedures.

Antony is a recognised expert in Sports law and has been involved in advising and appearing in contentious and non-contentious matters in many different sporting contexts.

His sports law practice commenced when he acted for the Football League in its dispute with Swindon Town and was subsequently instructed to act for Tottenham Hotspur in connection with the dismissal of Terry Venables. Since then he has been instructed in a number of different types of football cases, including obtaining the first garden leave injunction against a football manager when Steve Bruce left Crystal Palace to join Birmingham City, the wrongful dismissal dispute when Peter Leaver left the Premier League and a dispute over the TUPE transfer of a foreign player whose UK work permit had expired prior to the transfer of an undertaking between a club in administration and the company that had acquired the club from the administrator. He has also been involved in a dispute over the television rights to broadcast UEFA Cup games.

Antony's sports law practice has spread into other areas of sport, including rugby, cricket, horseracing, cycling, Formula 1 and other areas of motorsports. He has acted in matters as diverse as appearing for a former British sprint cycling champion in her claim against the British Cycling Federation for sex discrimination, advising Sport England on TUPE issues, an injunction claim over which of two rugby clubs was entitled to sign a rising star of the game and a dispute over the sponsorship of a team in the British Touring Car Championships.

Despite being a good team player and fully embracing the Olympic spirit, his clients never seem to appreciate being reminded that from his perspective at least, it is not the winning and the losing, but the participating that is important!

Although now only a comparatively small part of his practice, Antony has experience of advising and appearing in various types of commercial disputes, especially contractual issues and those involving applications for search and seizure and freezing injunctions. In particular, Antony was involved in the case of Universal Thermosensors -v- Hibben which led to a significant overhaul of the process of search and seizure. He has also recently been involved in advising on a commercial contract dispute concerning the supply of South African fruit to one of the largest UK supermarket chains and another concerning the rights to drill for oil in Sudan

Although this is also now only a small part of his practice, Antony continues to undertake some professional negligence work. He has experience of claims for and against solicitors, surveyors and accountants, as well as being involved in the HIV Haemophilia litigation.

Antony has always had a strong commitment to undertaking pro bono work. Indeed his first ever case as a qualified barrister was a three day employment tribunal hearing for the Free Representation Unit. Since then, he has continued to undertake cases for the Bar Pro Bono Unit, including a 15 day Employment Tribunal case in Newcastle, has regularly advised on the ELAAS scheme at the Employment Appeal Tribunal and has assisted on two Privy Council 'death row' cases.