Tom Gillie

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

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

Tom’s practice spans across a variety of areas including equality and human rights, employment, public and constitutional, education and commercial law. He is one of only a handful of barristers in the UK to specialise in political and electoral law as seen in his recent defence of the Labour Party in the High Court in claims concerning the Rt. Hon. Sir Keir Starmer MP and other Members of Parliament.

He has extensive experience acting for both Claimants and Defendants and has received instruction from high profile organisations in cases of public importance. Tom has acted as sole counsel in both the senior courts and tribunals.

He is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s panel of junior counsel and is ranked in Chambers and Partners.

Equality, Discrimination and Human Rights

Tom has extensive experience across a broad range of equality, discrimination and human rights law matters. He is instructed by high profile organisations in discrimination law cases of public importance and has appears un-led in the Hight Court and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Tom is currently acting as counsel to the Labour Party in relation to internal complaints of antisemitism, and the EHRC’s investigation under section 20 Equality Act 2006. He has also advised the Muslim Council of Britain on the widely publicised All Party Parliamentary Group’s Definition of Islamophobia, advised on islamophobia in the Conservative Party and has advised on matter of discrimination law in the selection and election of the General Secretary of one of the UK’s largest trade unions. Tom acts in multi-day and multi-week discrimination cases on behalf of claimants and respondents and has particular expertise in cases concerning race, disability and sexual orientation discrimination and discrimination on the basis of religion or philosophical belief. Tom also acts in domestic slavery and human trafficking cases and in claims for Judicial Review and applications for emergency injunctive relief.

Tom is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s panel of junior counsel and has advised the Government Equalities Office on the Equality Act 2010.

Tom’s other recent instructions include acting in a High Court claim on behalf of a victim of domestic slavery and human trafficking; and advising clients on claims for Judicial Review and applications for emergency injunctive relief. He also advises corporations on their duties under the Modern Slavery Act, and has advised the Government Equalities Office about guidance on non-discriminatory dress-codes and the Equality Act 2010 for employers.

Tom is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s panel of junior counsel.

Employment and Industrial Relations

Tom is an expert in employment and industrial law, regularly appearing before the employment tribunals and appellate courts in complex and high value employment disputes. His clients value his strategic acumen and his attention to detail. He acts for a range of clients, from trade unions and their members, vulnerable individuals, members of the armed forces and emergency service staff, to major corporations, blue chip companies and leading charities. His cases include:

• Gillett v Bridge 86 Limited (2017) – Employment Appeal Tribunal – sole counsel in an appeal about employment law practice and procedure;
• Browne v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (2018) – Employment Appeal Tribunal – sole counsel in an appeal concerning reasonable adjustments and the necessity of medical evidence in disability discrimination cases;
• DHL Supply Chain Ltd v Fazackerley (2018) – Employment Appeal Tribunal – sole counsel in an appeal about the time limits to bring claims under the Employment Rights Act 1996;
• Enforcing successfully restraint of trade provisions;
• Successfully defending a large utilities company in a complex sex discrimination case;
• Obtaining favourable settlements for CEOs and senior managers in large national charities and the banking sector;
• Advising a primary school involved in the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ cases on data protection rights and open justice;
• Advising one of the world’s best-known luxury department stores on transgender rights and sex discrimination in a goods and services context.

Constitutional and Political Law

Tom is an expert in parliamentary and local government law and the law of political parties. Tom’s practice encompasses private political law and public electoral law proceedings. Recent instructions include acting in a challenge to the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner, defending the selection of a candidate for the 2019 Mayor of Liverpool elections in a claim brought by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, acting in the High court successfully defending claims brought by Christopher Williamson MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP and a multi-party challenge to the Labour Party’s disciplinary procedures relating to discrimination. He has also recently advised on the conduct of Members of Parliament and intended complaints to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Housing

Tom has particular interest in discrimination claims in housing cases. He has extensive knowledge of the housing sector having previously worked both for a large housing association and in a law centre’s homelessness team. In addition to representing housing providers and their employees in employment law disputes, Tom also acts for tenants in discrimination cases against landlords in the county court. Tom has been extensively involved in housing policy matters; he has addressed a policy panel in Parliament on tenants’ rights and housing in the UK; and has worked with policy partners including the IPPR, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the National Housing Federation and trades unions. He was the Chair of Home: The Tenants Foundation and The Tenants Foundation Policy Network.

Education

Tom has a busy, predominantly Claimant focussed, practise in education law. He has recently acted in successful challenges to school exclusions and advises regularly in cases involving disability discrimination and reasonable adjustments for school pupils and university students.

Highlight Cases

Neslen and others v Evans [2021] EWHC 1909 (QB)

Corbyn v Evans [2021] EWHC 130 (QB)

Rothery v Evans [2021] EWHC 577 (QB)

Gillett v Bridge 86 Limited [2017] UKEAT/0051/17/DM

Browne v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (2018) UKEAT/0278/17/LA

DHL Supply Chain Ltd v Fazackerley (2018) UKEAT/0019/18/JOJ

Appointments and memberships

• Industrial Law Society
• ELA
• PIBA
• Franco-British Lawyers Society
• HOME: The Tenants Foundation (Chair)
• Bar Human Rights Committee

Awards

• Inner Temple Major Exhibition Award
• Churchill College Cambridge Scholarship Award

Publications and training

• Bar On Straight Civil Partnerships is Lawful
• Settling Injury to Feelings: A Taxing Time
• Race Discrimination and Housing in Post Brexit Britain
• Housing, Race and the Right to Rent post Brexit
• Can Judicial Assessment help Claimants and Respondents in the Employment Tribunal?
• Bakers lose ‘Gay Cake’ case
• ‘2017: the year of the discount rate: a claimant’s perspective’ (co-author with Martyn McLeish), Journal of Personal Injury Law, (2017) No.2 Pages 109-117
• A guide to using statistics in equality and employment litigation

Qualifications

• BA First Class with mark of Special Excellence in Modern Languages, University of Cambridge
• BPTC

Tom speaks fluent French and Italian

Tom is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to his clients, including advice and representation services, Tom 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 Tom’s privacy notice in full, please see here.

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