Andrew clarke QC

Andrew Clarke has been involved in a wide variety of discrimination cases. Many are high profile cases involving extensive press coverage due to the sums involved, the nature of the allegations, or the identity of the parties. He is used to operating in such an environment and aware of the need to have regard to the wider commercial importance of the case on the way it is conducted.

For example, Andrew acted for the Premier League and the FA in relation to allegations of racial bias in refereeing appointments. He appeared in the EAT for Hampshire Constabulary which was challenged in relation to the operation of its firearms policy. He acted for BA in relation to race discrimination claims by Sikhs who could not use certain safety equipment.  He has advised firms of solicitors, accountants, architects, designers and engineers regarding allegations relating to the conduct of members and senior staff.

In addition to advising on practical problems in this area of law and conducting first instance cases, which are often both lengthy and sensitive, Andrew is regularly brought in to deal with such cases on appeal. 

Andrew is expert in all kinds of discrimination.  Of recent date he has advised extensively on the impact of the developing law on age discrimination and on the rights of part time and agency workers. He has particular expertise in the law relating to employment agencies, including the 2010 Regulations

The conduct of large scale equal pay litigation calls for particular planning and organisational skills, in particular in relation to the selection and definition of preliminary issues. Andrew has many years of experience in the conduct of such claims on behalf of NHS Trust and local authority Respondents. He is leading counsel for North Cumbria Acute Trust (the Potter cases), for several other NHS Trusts and for various local authorities. 

Andrew is an acknowledged expert on strike and picketing injunctions.  He recently obtained the injunctions which ended national strikes by rail and postal workers.  He has a track record of stopping strikes, especially by devising clear and, very often, novel strategies.  He is the leading counsel of choice of many solicitors who operate in this specialist field.

He has handled some of the largest wrongful dismissal and bonus disputes to come before the UK courts.  He was leading counsel for Jupiter when sued by John Duffield and for Brad Huntington in his claim against the Imagine Group.  In each case the claims ran into many tens of millions of pounds.

He regularly advises on the application of TUPE. He has advised in relation to many high profile acquisitions and mergers which have involved TUPE and consultation issues.

He has appeared in several of the leading reported cases in this area including Betts v. Brintell, CPL v. Todd and Credit Suisse v. Lister (all in the Court of Appeal) and Beckman v. Dynamco (in the ECJ).

Within the last 12 months he has appeared in cases concerning pension scheme rule changes, age discrimination, the correct interpretation of collective agreements, disability discrimination, terms employed by custom and practice, the correct approach to interim relief applications, successfully resisting multi-million pound claims under TULR(C)A 1992 s.145A & B on behalf of Sellafield and Tesco and acting for Reed in relation to employment status issues where the claims exceed £100m.

Andrew deals with substantial business and commercial disputes outside the field of employment law. Hence, he has reported cases in the Court of Appeal and House of Lords concerning matters as diverse as the ability to enforce foreign default judgments in England and the affect of bankruptcy on that ability, the application of the ultra vires doctrine to the payment of bribes to secure contracts, the boundaries of the economic torts and the nature and extent of directors' fiduciary duties.

He undertakes pure contract/commercial work.  He recently represented Heidelberg in a High Court trial concerned with defects in a printing press.

He has a particular interest and expertise in the inter-relationship of employment and commercial law. As a result he is often instructed in cases where employment disputes have to be resolved against a background of disputes in relation to other commercial transactions such as insurance and reinsurance contracts, or in the context of other litigation such as s.459 proceedings or foreign litigation.

The Commercial Court case of Huntington v. Imagine Group illustrates his particular expertise.  The most valuable claims related to an esoteric bonus scheme, but the principal disputes of law and fact centred on insurance and reinsurance business acquisitions, the proper approach to corporate valuations, the interpretation of complex contracts and estoppels.

Andrew is a well known sports lawyer. He has advised sporting bodies, players and managers in a wide variety of legal disputes. He has acted for and against many football clubs (including Newcastle United and Leeds United) in connection with disputes as to the hiring, or firing, of managers. He has advised on disputes relating to driver and engineer 'poaching' in Formula 1 and rally driving. He has dealt with disputes as to the ownership of intellectual property and the sale and restructuring of sporting clubs and companies.

He has appeared before sporting and other internal bodies. He has conducted internal enquiries for (eg) Birmingham Airport and Slough BC.

Andrew recognises the valuable part that alternative dispute resolution techniques can play. He often both advises as to their use and presents the case to the arbitrator or mediator. He is aware of the particular skills required in such circumstances.

He is also a trained mediator. In that regard he is asked to mediate high value employment claims of particular sensitivity or complexity where the parties feel that his skills and experience in this area can help them to find an imaginative, but mutually acceptable, way forward. Recent users of his services have written to Chambers describing him as 'absolutely excellent'.