Rachel Barrett
UK Bar Guide 2025
Band 3 : Employment
Email address
[email protected]Contact number
020 7827 4000Share profile
Band 3
About
Provided by Rachel Barrett
Practice Areas
Rachel has a varied employment, discrimination and human rights law practice including inquests and public inquiry work. She specialises in cases with crossover equality and human rights law issues, and is in demand as sole or junior counsel in legally complex and novel litigation.
Career
Called to the Bar in 2012. Judicial assistant to Lord Wilson and Lord Hodge in the Supreme Court in 2014-2015. Appointed to the EHRC B-Panel from 2019. Fee-paid Employment Judge from 2020. Junior Counsel to the Infected Blood Inquiry (2019-2024) and the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry (2023-date).
Reported cases include: Tesco Stores Ltd v Element [2024] IRLR 736; NUPFC v Certification Officer [2021] ICR 1397; Gray v Mulberry Co (Design) Ltd [2020] ICR 715; Bou-Simon v BGC [2019] 1 All ER (Comm) 955; Kilraine v Wandsworth [2018] ICR 1850; Gilham v Ministry of Justice [2018] IRLR 315; Simpkin v Berkeley Group [2017] 4 WLR 11; McCann v State Hospital Board for Scotland [2017] 1 WLR 1455; Blackwood v Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust [2016] ICR 903.
Professional Memberships
ELBA, ELA, DLA, ALBA, BHRC, HRLA, Justice, INQUEST, Advocate.
Publications
Co-author of OUP’s Employment Law and Human Rights. Contributing author to Supperstone’s Judicial Review, Bullen & Leake’s Precedents of Pleadings, Lewis & Buchan’s Clinical Negligence and Sweet and Maxwell’s Human Rights Practice. Researcher on Baroness Hale's Mental Health Law.
Personal
Rachel studied at SOAS (BA History and MA Chinese Studies) and worked in mental health before becoming a barrister.
Chambers Review
UK Bar
Rachel Barrett is an impressive employment law barrister who has made appearances before the highest UK courts. She acts on behalf of both claimant and respondent clients and handles a wide range of matters including breach of contract, whistle-blowing and disability discrimination.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Rachel is great to work with and has a great manner with lay clients."
"She was all over technical points of law and really understood what we were trying to achieve. She really cut to the heart of matters. She's really impressive."
"She has excellent knowledge of the case and the applicable law. Our client was extremely happy with the service received."
"Rachel is great to work with and has a great manner with lay clients."
"She was all over technical points of law and really understood what we were trying to achieve. She really cut to the heart of matters. She's really impressive."
"She has excellent knowledge of the case and the applicable law. Our client was extremely happy with the service received."
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