Helena has a busy employment law practice and also welcomes instructions in public and administrative law, personal injury and clinical negligence. She is a strong trial advocate who has appeared in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (as sole counsel) and the Central Arbitration Committee. Due to her previous career in industry and consultancy, she is pragmatic, commercially minded, and has excellent interpersonal skills.

Employment & Discrimination

Helena’s recent trials have concerned TUPE, whistleblowing, constructive dismissal, redundancy, and discrimination. She recently defeated multiple claims of disability discrimination and victimisation (Wilson-Shaw v NHS North of England Commissioning Support Unit) and of sex discrimination and victimisation (Ivey v Norwich County Council), and obtained a finding of unfair dismissal in a misconduct dismissal (Wilson v Royal Mail Group Ltd).

Examples of recent successful interlocutory hearings include applications for anonymity and restricted reported orders; an application for costs against a vexatious litigant; an application to set aside a default judgment against an employer; several applications to extend time to serve a response to claim; an application to strike out multiple claims; and, equally, she recently acted successfully for a claimant to resist an all-encompassing strike out application.

Helena has advised in trade union recognition under TULR(C)A and in several cases concerning breaches of the Part Time and Fixed Term Worker Regulations.

Helena is also at home in the county court, where she appears in cases involving breach of contract and discrimination in goods and services.

Helena represents clients in Judicial Mediations and works hard to achieve a realistic settlement, and also provides training in discrimination law.

Inquests, Inquiries, Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence

Helena is developing her practice in inquest and inquiry work and will consider acting on a pro bono or discounted-fee basis for bereaved families. She advises on merits, drafts pleadings, and appears in the county court in personal injury claims arising from accidents and assaults in the workplace, health and safety issues and road traffic accidents. She has a particular interest in health and safety at work and in workplace psychiatric injury claims.

Independent Investigations

Helena ran a highly sensitive investigation into allegations of discrimination, bullying, and victimisation for a well-known organisation and has been led by leading and senior counsel in similar investigations. She brings a wealth of relevant professional experience to this area of her practice, having frequently conducted internal audits in her previous career.

Prior to the Bar

Helena worked as a Legal Officer for the Baptist Union for one year while completing her BPTC. She advised on property and trust law, GDPR, and assisted in preparation for the IICSA enquiry into child protection in religious organisations.

Before retraining in law, for twelve years, Helena ran business transformation programmes and worked as an IT and management consultant at C-level for clients in the private and public sectors. She has highly developed commercial skills combined with extensive experience in systems and business implementations and outsourcing, which complement her abilities as a barrister. Helena’s roles included commercial director on a multi-million account, delivery lead for an offshore IT services company, and business integration architect on a national transformation programme. She also defined and ran an organisation restructuring exercise in a unionised company.