Laura Prince

Contact Laura: lauraprince@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447

Contact Laura's Practice Team (Team M): TeamM@matrixlaw.co.uk

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Laura is an employment law specialist, regularly appearing in the employment tribunals, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. Laura acts for both applicants and respondents in cases involving unfair and wrongful dismissal, unlawful deductions from wages, redundancy and all forms of discrimination.

Laura has extensive experience of multiple equal pay litigation – regularly appearing opposite Queen’s Counsel – and has acted for over 1000 claimants in one case. Laura has also appeared in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Supreme Court on a complex TUPE transfer matter. Laura has experience of restraint of trade clauses in both the High Court and County Court.

Using her expertise in dealing with complex employment law litigation and related wage and financial issues, Laura has a developing practice in tax law work related to indirect tax and VAT, with additional expertise in its intersection with public law.

Laura is often invited by organisations to lecture on employment law topics and has written a number of published articles.  Laura is also a chapter author of Blackstone’s Guide to the Equality Act.

Academically she has a first class law degree from University College London and obtained prizes for academic achievement including the Herbert Smith Prize for Exceptional Merit (for achieving the highest mark in the UCL Public Law Exam).

In 2012 Laura was nominated for the Bar Pro Bono Award and in 2019 was appointed to the Attorney General’s A Panel of Counsel. In 2019 Laura was appointed as a Deputy Chair of the Central Arbitration Committee.

Experience

Appellate Level Work

Laura’s Appellate level experience includes:

• Led by Thomas Linden in the case of Parkwood Leisure Ltd v Alemo-Herron & Ors in the Court of Justice of the European Union[2013] ICR 1116, Supreme Court ([2011] ICR 920), Court of Appeal ([2010] ICR 793) and EAT ([2009] ICR 703). The issue in this case is whether a collective agreement reached after a TUPE transfer can bind the transferee.
• Hounga v Allen & Anorin the Supreme Court [2014] ICR 847, Court of Appeal ([2012] IRLR 685), and EAT ([2011] All ER (D) 250 Apr) concerning unfair dismissal, race discrimination and illegal employment contract. The appellant’s claim to recover compensation was not allowed based on public policy grounds as it was positively linked to her own illegal conduct in willingly entering the UK for work when she was not permitted to do so. Laura appeared for the Respondent.
• Okedina v Chikale in the Court of Appeal [2019] EWCA 1393 concerning illegality, in particular whether a Claimant who was working illegality (due to her immigration status) was barred from bringing contractual claims because of the doctrine of statutory illegality. The Respondent has applied for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
• Adecco UK Ltd v Revenue and Customs in the Court of Appeal [2019] 1 All ER 615. Important high value appeal concerning whether employment bureaux made a VAT supply of temporary staff to the end user.
• Burke v College of Law & Anorin the Court of Appeal ([2012] ELR 195) and EAT ([2011] EqLR454). Laura was led by Helen Mountfield in the Court of Appeal in this disability discrimination case which involved consideration of whether the ability to work under time limited conditions amounted to a competence standard and reasonable adjustments.  Laura also solely represented the Respondents before the EAT in this case which was the first case to come before the EAT about the meaning of a competence standard under s.14B DDA.
• Gallop v Newport City Council[2013] IRLR 23. Case concerned the calculation of compensation in an unfair dismissal claim. In this case the Claimant’s compensation had been reduced on the ground that had he not been unfairly dismissed he would have accepted a compromise agreement.  Evidence of the agreement had come about following questions from one of the lay members.  The EAT held that evidence of without prejudice negotiations were not admissible “absent a clear waiver by the parties”.  The case also considered the meaning of the concept of ‘knowledge’ in disability discrimination claims. Permission to appeal been granted by the Court of Appeal (A2/2012/2073) and the judgment has not yet been handed down.
• Shui v University of Manchester[2018] ICR 77. Important EAT case giving guidance to ET’s regarding their obligations towards litigant’s in person.
• Urso v DWP [2017] IRLR 304. The appeal concerned whether the EAT had incorrectly focused on the Claimant’s PTSD diagnosis rather than the impact of it on the Claimant.
• Atkinson v Community Gateway Association[2015] ICR 1. Significant case clarifying the law as to whether an employee can bring a constructive dismissal claim when they are themselves in repudiatory breach of their contract of employment. The Employment Appeal Tribunal also considered whether or not an employer could rely on evidence obtained by searching through an employee’s emails and whether such a search would violate the employee’s Article 8 rights.
• Duhoe v Support Services Group UKEAT/0102/15/MC. Appeal concerning uplifts under s.207A of TULR(C)A.
• Doughty v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Jobcentre plus)[2014] All ER (D) 54 (Sept). Trade Union Detriment, victimisation and applications to amend.
• Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board v Hughes and others UKEAT/0179/13/JOJ. Harassment on grounds of disability and continuing acts.
• Bradley v Royal Holloway University [2014] All ER (D) 12 (Sep). Professorial equal pay claim considering the material factor defence.
• Iqbal v Metropolitan Police Service[2012] NLRJ 1536. Decision concerning the procedure that Employment Tribunals should follow when considering whether to allow proceedings to be postponed on medical grounds.
• Bozeat-Manzi v TelephonicaUK UKEATPA/1799/11. The case concerns the exercise of discretion to extend time in both unfair dismissal and discrimination claims and the need to hear evidence at PHRs.
• Vaidya v GMC[2012] All ER (D) 215 (May). Case concerning the construction of s.12(1A) of the Race Relations Act.
• Bird v Bristol UniversityUKEAT/0469/12/RN. Perversity appeal concerning agreement for a minimum fixed term contract.
• Mahoney v RomnecUKEAT/0474/12/DM. Perversity appeal considering the application of Taylor v OCS.
• Bearne v Sainsburys SupermarketUKEAT/0385/12/RN.  Constructive dismissal case considering issues of causation and compensation.
• Ojeke v Partnership In Care LtdUKEAT/0198/12/JOJ. Perversity appeal, consideration of whether dismissal was a reasonable sanction.
• Dass v The College of Harringey, Enfield and North East LondonUKEAT/0672/11/ZT. Laura represented at his 3(10) permission hearing and was led at the full hearing by Karon Monaghan. Important case concerning the concept of a “stable employment relationship” in an equal pay claim.
• Bone v London Borough of NewhamUKEAT/0235/10/LA. Issues concerning assessment of the likelihood of promotion and assessment of pension loss.

Laura is a member of the ELAAS Scheme.

Employment Tribunal Work

Laura’s Employment Tribunal experience includes:

• Extensive experience of multiple local government and NHS equal pay claims – regularly appearing opposite Queen’s Counsel – and has acted for over 1000 claimants in one case.
• Bradley v Royal Holloway and Bedford New College [2013] EqLR 1212. Professorial equal pay claim.
• Tan v School of Oriental and African Studies[2013] EqLR 924. Race and sex discrimination case concerning a failure to promote an academic from senior lecturer to reader and/or professor.
• Schafer v Royal Holloway and Bedford New College[2011] EqLR 429 Laura represented the Claimant in a 3 week equal pay claim in the Reading Employment Tribunal. The Claimant was a University Professor claiming ‘like work’ with male professors employed at the University. This was a test case in respect of the issue of ‘like work’ and also some elements of the genuine material factor defence.
• Alawi and others v Autism Plus ET (2018). Important test case concerning the decision of Tycoin the CJEU and whether peripatetic workers were entitled to be paid NMW for time spent travelling from home to their first appointment of the day and back home from their last appointment of the day.
• Sheterline v Autonomy, Equal Opportunities Review, July 2010, p.31.
• Represented the Claimant in a 5 day Whistleblowing/Unfair dismissal claim at the Manchester employment tribunal (there was coverage of this case in the Evening Standard, the Guardian and local press).
• TUPE transfer and consultation claims involving multiple claimants.

High Court and County Court Work

Laura has represented claimants at both the County Court and High Court in respect of Restraint of Trade clauses.

• Black and Others v Arriva[2013] EqLR 558. Laura was led by Aidan O’Neillin this case which concerned reasonable adjustments required of bus companies in respect of their disabled passengers.
• BBC v (1) Harper Collins Publishers (2) Ben Collins (3) Collins Autosports[2010] EWHC 2424 Laura was led by Hugh Tomlinson QCin this high profile case where they represented the defendants at the High Court. The BBC were seeking to prevent the defendant from revealing that he had played the role of the Stig in Top Gear through his autobiography.

Articles and Downloads

• Judgment: Allen v Hounga (2)
• Judgment: Burke v College of Law
• Seminar: Equality Bill
• Seminar: Equal Pay and The Equality Act 2010
• Seminar: Equality Act: Disability Discrimination
• Paper: Equal and the Equality Act 2010

Privacy Notice

Laura is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. I order to provide legal services to her clients, including advice and representation services, Laura needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes her client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which she is instructed. To read Laura’s privacy notice in full, please see here.

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Laura is regulated by the Bar Standards Board and accepts instructions under the Bar Council Standard Contractual Terms. To find out more information on this and the way we work at Matrix, including our fee transparency statement, please see our see our service standards.

Employment Law

Appellate level work Laura has extensive experience of Appellate level employment law cases and has appeared in the Court of Justice of the European Union (Alemo-Herron v Parkwood Leisure – whether a collective agreement reached after a TUPE transfer can bind the transferee), the Supreme Court (Hounga v Allen – discrimination and illegality), the Court of Appeal (Okedina v Chikale – unfair dismissal, contractual claims and illegality; Burke v College of Law (disability discrimination and competence standards; Gallop v Newport City Council (disability discrimination and knowledge). Laura has appeared before the Employment Appeal Tribunal on over 25 occasions including Atkinson v Community Gateway Association (significant case clarifying the law as to whether an employee can bring a constructive dismissal claim when they are themselves in repudiatory breach of their contract of employment), Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board v Hughes and others (harassment on grounds of disability) and Bradley v Royal Holloway University (equal pay and the material factor defence). A full list of cases can be found below. Employment Tribunal Work Laura is frequently instructed in important test cases (e.g. Schafer v Royal Holloway University – test equal pay claims brought by multiple professors, test issues on like work and material factors; Alawi and others v Autism Plus – test case on the application of national minimum wage and travel time following the judgment of the CJEU in Tyco and Parker v MoJ – test case on the need for employers to provide suitable facilities for a new mother to express milk at work). Laura also has significant experience of large multiple claims (e.g. Laura represented over 1000 claimants in an equal pay claim), represented a respondent in a TUPE claim covering hundreds of employees and represents the Department of Education and Department of Health in cases concerning the changes to teachers and NHS pensions schemes impacting on thousands of employees. Laura also has extensive experience of complex TUPE matters and complex and lengthy whistleblowing and discrimination claims.

Investigations

Laura has experience of conducting independent investigations where companies and their current and past employees are in dispute. Recent investigations have concerned allegations of harassment, bullying, unequal pay and disability discrimination.

Tax Law

Using her expertise in dealing with complex employment law litigation and related wage and financial issues, Laura has a developing practice in tax law work related to direct and indirect tax and VAT, with additional expertise in its intersection with employment law. Laura was led by Eleni Mitrophanous Q.C. in the case of Adecco v HMRC (a multi-million pound appeal to the Court of Appeal concerning whether an employment bureau made a VAT supply for temporary staff to the end user). Laura was sole counsel in the case of Wilson v HMRC (an appeal concerning a test point of whether or not a partner in an LLP could be taxed as an employee). Laura also has extensive experience of advising on IR35 issues.

Mediation

Laura is an ADR Group Accredited mediator and mediates across all areas although she has particular experience in employment, contract and commercial law disputes.

Articles and Downloads

Judgment: Okedina v Chikale Judgment: Allen v Hounga (2) Judgment: Burke v College of Law Seminar: Equality Bill Seminar: Equal Pay and The Equality Act 2010 Seminar: Equality Act: Disability Discrimination Paper: Equal and the Equality Act 2010

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Laura's Privacy Notice

Laura is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. I order to provide legal services to her clients, including advice and representation services, Laura needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes her client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which she is instructed. To read Laura’s privacy notice in full, please see here.

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