Since being called to the Bar in 1996, Carol Davis has been widely acknowledged by clients and legal directories as one of the leading juniors in employment litigation.

The 2010 edition of Chambers and Partners recognised Carol as providing ‘excellent advice with regard to bonus disputes, breaches of contract and restrictive covenants’ and praised her for her ‘practical and straightforward advice’. Carol has consistently been lauded by clients and the legal directories for her ‘down to earth, easy attitude’, her ‘deft ability to instil confidence in the trickiest of cases’ and her skill in ‘dealing with complex legal issues in a commercial context’. Carol is, however, no push-over and has been repeatedly described in Chambers and Partners as being ‘formidable in conference and in court’.

Practice Profile

Carol has a mixed employment law and commercial litigation practice which has seen her undertake a wide range of employment litigation in courts, tribunals and mediation. She regularly appears in appellate courts and tribunals. Her principal areas of court work include claims during the currency and termination of employment, including restrictive covenant injunctions, wrongful dismissal and other breaches of contract, breaches of fiduciary duty and bonus entitlements. She also has expertise in handling internal disciplinary and grievance matters and director and senior employee issues. Tribunal work includes unfair and wrongful dismissal, whistleblowing, redundancy and transfer of undertakings claims. In 2009, Carol was recognised by Chambers and Partners as a leading expert in discrimination law.

On top of thriving practices in commercial and employment law, Carol continues to develop an expertise in the field of professional negligence and she has advised and appeared on behalf of both claimants and defendants, particularly in the area of solicitors negligence. Carol's practice is also expanding into the areas of partnership and joint ventures and sports law and she is available to take instructions in these fields.

Lectures and Publications

Carol is also regularly invited to lecture and conduct training sessions on aspects of employment law. By way of example, for the past three years Carol has conducted advocacy workshops for the Employment Lawyers Association and drafting workshops for Herbert Smith. Further, in 2008 and 2009, Carol has been a principal lecturer on the Employment Lawyers Association Foundation in Discrimination Law course. She will again be a lecturer on that course in 2010. Carol’s recent lecture topics have included discrimination remedies, whistleblowing and reporting duties at common law and as part of fiduciary duties. She is, however, always happy to tailor a lecture to fit your requirements.

Carol is also a regular contributor to legal journals and author. Most recently she co-authored with Jeremy Lewis the chapter ‘Dismissal with or without Notice’ for Butterworth Tolley’s loose-leaf ‘Termination of Employment’. In 2010, Wildy, Simmonds and Hill will publish the book ‘Termination of Employment’ which Carol has co-authored with John Bowers QC.

Education

Carol read English Literature at Sussex University before taking the law conversion course. She received one of the highest marks for the Bar Vocational Course in her year (1995-1996) before undertaking pupillage at Littleton Chambers. She was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1996 and was awarded a Diplock Scholarship by Middle Temple for her pupillage year.

Professional Affiliations

Carol is a member of COMBAR, the Employment Law Bar Association, the Employment Lawyers Association and the Professional Negligence Bar Association.

Personal

Carol is the proud mother of two young girls. When not at work, Carol lives in a parallel toddler universe of play dates, monkey music and biscuit baking. Carol dimly recalls that, before the arrival of tiny people, she used to enjoy travelling to exotic places, charging down ski slopes and feeding her dramatic yearnings with visits to the theatre and the cinema.