Employment and discrimination

Caitlin acts for both Claimants and Respondents, covering a broad range of both statutory and contractual employment matters. Recent instructions include:

• Successfully acted for a Claimant – an employee in his 60s who was dismissed during the Covid pandemic – in a three-day trial showing that he had been unfairly dismissed and that his employment had been transferred under the TUPE Regulations (acting pro bono).

• Acted for a Respondent – a small hospital for patients with neurological disorders – in successfully arguing that an ex-employee was neither harassed nor constructively dismissed. Required careful cross-examination of a vulnerable Claimant on sensitive matters of mental health and childcare.

• Conducting an internal investigation into possible health and safety risks and intimidating behaviour during a period of industrial action.

• Advised an ex-employee on the enforceability of wide-ranging restrictive covenants set out in an amendment to his employment contract.

• Drafted particulars of claim for a Claimant solicitor in her multi-year claim for sexual harassment against a partner of the Respondent firm.

• Acting for a Respondent local authority in its defence against an ex-employee’s extensive claim for indirect discrimination, victimisation and failure to make reasonable adjustments (ongoing).

• Early advice and drafting for a small provider of assisted living for vulnerable young people in response to a wide-ranging discrimination claim brought by a former employee, resulting in the withdrawal of the claim.

Goods and services discrimination

• Successfully defended (in full) a wide-ranging discrimination claim against a small charity serving those with lived experience of mental illness and trauma brought by a former service user (acting pro bono).

• Provided advice for a major, multinational tech company on responding to a goods and services discrimination claim.

Public law

Caitlin has a particular interest in public law and is open to instructions across all areas of public law.

She has built extensive experience acting for vulnerable Claimants in homelessness cases against local authorities. Recent instructions include:

• Secured alternative accommodation for a mother and son with complex, overlapping disabilities in their claim against a local authority for failing to provide suitable accommodation and breach of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

• Early advice and drafting for a homeless refugee and mother of two in her application for relocation to suitable accommodation following post-natal injuries.

Caitlin is also a member of the Government’s ‘Junior junior’ scheme and has advised the Government on aspects of discrimination-related retained EU law.

Personal injury and clinical negligence

Caitlin acts exclusively for Claimants in personal injury and clinical negligence matters. Recent instructions include:

• Acting for a Claimant with overlapping physical and mental disabilities in her Human Rights Act claim against the Defendant council for failures in nursing care, including representation in two interim applications. A procedurally complex claim involving contested psychiatric evidence on the interaction between the Claimant’s EUPD and capacity.

• Acting for a Claimant in a claim for alleged failure to diagnose a heart attack, leading to life-altering injuries.

• Advising a family on the apportionment of damages following a fatal accident resulting from a failure to treat his condition (including representation at an infant approval hearing).

During her pupillage, Caitlin was supervised by Chesca Lord, assisting on drafting complex Schedules of Loss for multi-million pound catastrophic injury claims, and by Linda Jacobs, where she gained experience in legally and medically complex claims.

Before the Bar

Before coming to the Bar, Caitlin spent eight years in international finance. She started her career as an investment banker before transitioning to private equity, making and managing investments in developing economies. She worked at the World Bank and subsequently at a social impact fund in London, focusing primarily on financial services companies in Africa.

Qualifications

Bar Course, City Law School (Distinction)

GDL, City Law School (Distinction)

Master of International Affairs (Economic Development & Policy Analysis), Columbia University (4.0 GPA)

BA History, Brasenose College, Oxford (First Class)

Awards

Listed in Advocate's 'Pro Bono Recognition List of England and Wales' for 2024

Everard Ver Heyden Foundation Prize for performance in the Bar Course, City Law School (2022)

Princess Royal Scholarship, Inner Temple (2021)

Winner, Maitland Advocacy Prize (2020)

GDL Scholarship for Academic Excellence, City Law School (2020)

GDL Exhibition, Inner Temple (2020)

Academic Scholarship, Brasenose College, Oxford (2008 – 2010)

ALBA

JUSTICE

HRLA