Mark Greaves

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

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

Mark has a broad practice with a particular focus on Employment, Education, Public, Competition, and Sports law. He has appeared in courts and tribunals at all levels up to and including the Supreme Court.

Ranked by both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 for Employment law and Education law, Mark has been described as:

• “just brilliant. He is extremely bright, creative and meticulous in his preparation. Nothing is ever too much trouble for him and he is a fantastic team player” (Chambers and Partners)
• “showing shrewd insight and levels of realism and ingenuity that are very rare in someone of his call level” (Legal 500)
• “an excellent junior. He has a meticulous eye for detail and a commercial, practical and client-focused approach” (Chambers and Partners)

He is a member of both the Attorney General’s C Panel of Treasury Counsel and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Panel of Counsel, having been appointed to each panel in his first year of eligibility.

Employment Law

Mark has appeared unled in the Employment Tribunal, EAT and High Court in matters across the full spectrum of employment litigation. Instructed as sole counsel, Mark has obtained sums of over £1m for Claimants and successfully defended claims of over £10m for Respondents.

As sole counsel, Mark has handled the following: whistleblowing claims, including those involving interim relief applications; claims alleging breach of confidence; injunction applications concerning the enforcement of restrictive covenants; claims for discrimination, harassment and victimisation involving each of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010; unfair dismissal claims; TUPE claims; redundancy claims; cases involving employment and worker status issues; all types of wages claims including for unlawful deductions, holiday pay and equal pay; disputes as to the applicable law for an employment dispute, and the ET’s territorial reach; applications for anonymity and restricted reporting orders; applications for strike out and deposit orders; and applications for costs.

Since January 2017 Mark has been the author of the Working Time chapter in Tolley’s Employment Law (loose-leaf).

Mark’s recent reported appellate and High Court cases include:

• Jump Trading International Limited v (1) Damien Couture and (2) Verition Advisors (UK Partners) LLP [2023] EWHC 1305 (KB) – Acted for the Claimant employer (led by James Laddie KC and Edward Kemp) in an application for an interim injunction to enforce an unusual non-compete covenant with a variable non-compete period.
• Robinson v Al-Qasimi [2021] IRLR 774 – Appeared before the Court of Appeal as junior counsel (led by James Laddie KC) in a case concerning the application of the illegality defence in an employment context, and the operation of the interim relief regime in the Employment Tribunal.
• Driscoll v V&P Global Ltd & Anor [2021] IRLR 891 – Acted for the Respondents in an EAT appeal which established that constructive dismissal can constitute an act of harassment.
• Ince Gordon Dadds LLP v Tunstall [2020] ICR 124 – Successfully resisted an appeal to the EAT in a case concerning an issue, never previously determined, as to the scope of the statutory moratorium which applies to legal proceedings against a company in administration. The case featured in The Times, The Lawyer and The Law Gazette.
• RMT v Lloyd [2019] IRLR 897 – Successfully resisted an appeal to the EAT in an age discrimination case considering the legitimacy of the aims relied on by the respondent to justify the treatment.
• Antuzis v DJ Houghton Catching Services Ltd [2019] EWHC 843 (QB) – Appeared as junior counsel (led by Andrew Allen KC) in a High Court trafficking case which clarified the circumstances in which an officer of a company will be personally liable for inducing breach of contract. The case was widely reported in the media including by The Times, The Guardian and BBC News. Mark appeared as sole counsel in a number of preliminary hearings in this case, including appearing against a KC to successfully resist the Claimant’s application for strike out.

Mark’s recent Employment Tribunal cases include:

• Employee v Financial Services Company [2023] – Represented the Claimant in a whistleblowing and sex discrimination claim for career long-losses which settled for a multi-million pound sum.
• Ms H J Lehtonen and Others v Hansbiomed Europe Ltd [2023] – Successfully represented the Respondent in a complex group claim for whistleblowing and discrimination in which the Employment Tribunal made a finding that the Claimants had forged key evidence.
• Group Finance Director v Fintech Unicorn [2022] – Acted for the Respondent, a billion-dollar fintech “unicorn”, in a multi-million pound discrimination and whistleblowing claim brought by its former Group Finance Director.
• O’Connor v Brooke & Anor [2022] – Successfully defended a £6.6m whistleblowing claim brought by the former CFO of a high-profile peer-to-peer loan startup.
• Employee v Global Brokerage [2022] – Represented the Claimant in a high value sexual harassment claim involving allegations against her former manager.
• Employee v Global Bank [2021] – Represented a bank in a multi-million pound whistleblowing claim brought by a Senior Manager in the bank’s Compliance Department.
• Employee v Venture Capital Firm [2021] – Represented a venture capital firm in a multi-million pound whistleblowing claim brought by a Managing Partner.
• Dewhurst v Revisecatch Ltd [2019] – Acted in this important test case in which it was held that ‘Limb (b) workers’ are entitled to protection under TUPE.

Education Law

Mark is recognised by both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 as a leading junior in the field of education law. His practice encompasses claims for judicial review, discrimination claims before the SEND Tribunal, civil claims, and internal disciplinary procedures at schools and universities.

Mark is a former editor of the Education Law Reports and the co-author of the education chapter in “National Security Law, Procedure and Practice” (Oxford University Press, 2021). In his first year in practice, Mark completed a one-year part-time secondment with Ofsted’s legal services team.

Mark’s High Court experience includes:

• R (AA) v BB Academies Trust [2021] (Led by Sarah Hannett KC) – A judicial review claim concerning the use of isolation booths to discipline pupils.
• R (AA & Ors) v Secretary of State for Education [2021] (Led by Sarah Hannett KC) – A judicial review claim concerning the rebrokerage of an academy which centred on alleged breaches of the parents’ and pupil’s rights under Article 9 and Article 2, Protocol 1 of the ECHR.
• R (AA) v London Borough of Hackney [2021] – A judicial review claim (including an application for an interim injunction) brought in respect of a failure by the Local Authority to put in place suitable education for a pupil.
• R (AA) v OIA & a University [2021] – A judicial review claim concerning a decision to exclude a student from an Adult Nursing course.

Mark’s higher education experience includes:

• Student v University [2022] – Instructed by a student in a successful appeal to the Deputy Vice Chancellor against a decision to permanently exclude her from the University for plagiarism.
• Investigation for an Oxbridge College [2022] – Conducted an independent investigation on behalf of an Oxbridge College into sexual harassment allegations brought by students against a member of staff.
• Legal Advice to the Disciplinary Committee of an Oxbridge College [2022] – Advised the Disciplinary Committee of an Oxbridge College considering allegations of sexual assault brought by one student against another.
• Student v Oxbridge College [2020] – Acted for the Claimant in a discrimination claim against an Oxbridge College which settled for a six-figure sum.

In addition to litigation, Mark is frequently instructed by independent schools on all manner of education issues, particularly those concerning admissions and exclusions. For example, he advised an independent boarding school on its response to sensitive safeguarding issues; assisted an independent school in challenging an inspection report; and conducted a wholesale review of the admissions arrangements for an independent school to ensure they were compliant with the Equality Act 2010.

Public Law

Mark is regularly instructed, both as sole and junior counsel, in the Administrative Court and has also appeared before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. He has particular expertise in claims under the Human Rights Act 1998 and Equality Act 2010. Mark’s clients include individuals, Secretaries of State and regulators.

Mark’s notable cases include:

• R (Counsel General for Wales) v Secretary of State for Business [2022] EWCA Civ 118 (led by Helen Mountfield KC and Christian Howells) – An appeal to the Court of Appeal in relation to a judicial review challenge of the UK Internal Market Act 2020.
• REFERENCE by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland – United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill [2021] UKSC 42 (led by Helen Mountfield KC and Christian Howells) – A reference to the Supreme Court in relation to the devolved legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.
• R (AA) v BB Academies Trust [2021]: (Led by Sarah Hannett KC) – A judicial review claim concerning the use of isolation booths to discipline pupils.
• R (AA & Ors) v Secretary of State for Education [2021] (Led by Sarah Hannett KC) – A judicial review claim concerning the rebrokerage of an academy which centred on alleged breaches of the parents’ and pupil’s rights under Article 9 and Article 2, Protocol 1 of the ECHR.

Commercial Law

Mark has been instructed in a number of commercial and company law matters, in addition to his employment cases which cross-over with these areas. Mark is comfortable assisting in both civil and arbitral proceedings.

For example, Mark advised a large organisation on a complex contractual dispute worth over £100,000 which engaged issues of incorporation, variation, and estoppel; advised a brokerage firm in relation to a claim for a debt worth over USD 50,000 that centred on the implication of terms; and, acting for a major energy supplier, successfully defended a breach of contract claim at trial.

Sports Law

A keen sportsman himself, Mark welcomes instructions in all areas of sports law.

Mark is able to draw on his experience from a range of related areas when acting in sports law cases: Mark has experience of commercial arbitrations (principally involving allegations of breach of confidence); has acted for professional football and rowing clubs in employment disputes and investigations; and has been involved in a number of education law matters involving safeguarding, including assisting Ofsted with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Qualifications

Before coming to the Bar, Mark read Classics at Jesus College, Oxford where he received several academic honours, including the Holbrooke Scholarship, the Viscount Sankey Scholarship and the William Montgomerie Prize for Greek Philosophy. At City University, Mark completed the GDL (Distinction, fifth overall and first in Public Law) and the BPTC (Outstanding) as a Bedingfield Scholar of Gray’s Inn, the top merit-based award. He was also awarded the Michael Beloff QC Administrative Law Essay Prize by Gray’s Inn for his piece on reform of the Human Rights Act 1998 and served as the Chief Student Director of the School Exclusion Project, an award-winning pro bono unit.

In his spare time, Mark enjoys rock climbing, cycling and theatre.

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

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