Niran de Silva

Niran specialises in:

Employment-related disputes involving issues of discrimination, shareholder rights or restrictive covenants
Commercial litigation
Education
Disciplinary and regulatory

He has consistently been recognised in the legal directories as a Leading Junior in Employment Law. Chambers and Partners 2012 states that he is "very quick at getting to the crux of a case", “extremely good at calming clients in difficult and stressful situations" and "intellectually excellent". The directories also describe Niran as being “very bright”, “clear and concise” and “tenacious”.

Cases in 2012 include:

- Wirral County Council v British Telecommunications plc. Successfully acted for respondent in multimillion pound commercial arbitration

- Allen v Hounga. Instructed as junior counsel (leading counsel David Reade QC) in an appeal to the Supreme Court against judgment of the Court of Appeal ([2012] EWCA Civ 609) on illegality as a defence to discrimination claims

- Ajar-Tec v Stack [2012] EWCA Civ 543. Appeared in the Court of Appeal in an appeal concerning the alleged employment status of a company director and shareholder.

- Brennan v Sunderland & Others [2012] ICR 1183. Successfully appeared as junior counsel (leading counsel Antony White QC) in the Employment Appeal Tribunal in a claim for contribution under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978.

- R v Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations (ex parte A-Mark). Successfully appeared for examination boards in judicial review application by examination centre.

employment

Chambers and Partners acknowledges Niran’s “forte” in discrimination claims and restrictive covenant injunctions, in which he regularly appears in the High Court.

He regularly represents companies and individuals in high-value wrongful dismissal and bonus claims in the High Court, the Employment Tribunal and the EAT.

Cases in 2012 include:

Several restrictive covenant and garden leave cases in the High Court including Whalley v CSS and TUI v Nugent & Others

Allen v Hounga. Instructed as junior counsel (leading counsel David Reade QC) in an appeal to the Supreme Court against judgment of the Court of Appeal ([2012] EWCA Civ 609) on illegality as a defence to discrimination claims

Ajar-Tec v Stack [2012] EWCA Civ 543. Appeared in the Court of Appeal in an appeal concerning the alleged employment status of a company director and shareholder

Brennan v Sunderland & Others [2012] ICR 1183. Successfully appeared as junior counsel in the Employment Appeal Tribunal in a claim for contribution under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978.

Castle v Ministry of Defence. Successfully appeared for RAF officer in claim for harassment and sex discrimination by another officer in her squadron

Niran was counsel to the Metropolitan Police Service in the Morris Inquiry into Professional Standards in the Police and has an expertise in claims involving the police and other public bodies, in particular in equal pay.

Niran is also the author or co-author of:

Police Conduct Complaints and Efficiency (co-author Fraser Sampson)

the chapters on Trade Unions and Industrial Action and Information on the Xpert HR’s online resource

Butterworths Employment Law (contributing author)

commercial

Niran’s commercial work covers a range of court and advisory work. He appeared in the following reported cases:

Gwynedd Council v BT [2004] All ER 975 CA on the recoverability of costs under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and

BT v Geraghty & Miller (2004) LTL 21 September on claiming fixed overheads as damages in tortious claims.

Cases in 2012 include:

Wirral County Council v British Telecommunications plc. Successfully acted for respondent in multimillion pound commercial arbitration.

acting for a film distribution in injunctive proceedings arising from alleged breaches of its licence

advising the purchaser in dispute arising from the sale of an insurance brokerage

Sprague v Sprague. Taking depositions in the London for litigation in the US relating to a family trust

He provides lectures on a range of topics including Contribution Claims, Privileged and Without Prejudice Communications and Electronic Disclosure in Commercial Litigation.

Education

Niran regularly acts for colleges, universities and examination bodies in judicial review proceedings as well as the County Court and the Special Education Needs and Disability Tribunal.

He appeared for the successful respondent (led by John Bowers QC) in the Court of Appeal in Ahmed v Oxford University [2003] 1 WLR 995, the leading authority on the role of assessors in discrimination claims heard in the courts.

Recent cases include:

R v Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations (ex parte A-Mark). Successfully appeared for examination boards in judicial review application by examination centre

Yori v Roehampton University. Claim for failure to make reasonable adjustments re dyslexia

Acting for suspended head teacher in internal disciplinary proceedings

Call: 1997
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