Barrister Profile

Sophie Belgrove

Year of Call2001

Profile

Sophie's principal areas of practice are employment and commercial.

Recommendations

Sophie scores highly as "a fantastic cross-examiner" and is rated for being "client-friendly and handling cases with the minimum of fuss."
- Chambers & Partners 2009

Areas of Practice

Employment

Sophie has extensive experience of all areas of employment law. Her work includes advising and representing clients in the Employment Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and in the High Court. Sophie is currently instructed in relation to a matter before the Court of Appeal.

Sophie has considerable experience of complex litigation and her clients include banks and building societies, dotcom companies, insurance companies, high street chains, FTSE 100 companies, airlines and airports, charities and a wide range of public and private sector clients.

She frequently advises and acts in relation to all areas of discrimination (including victimisation), in particular sex, race, disability, religion and belief and sexual orientation. She has recently advised and acted in a series of equal pay claims.

Sophie advises employers and employees on all aspects of the employment relationship, including statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures, flexible and part-time working and the Working Time Regulations (including holiday issues), unlawful deductions from wages, pensions, and the legal aspects of business restructuring, including TUPE (1981 and 2006 Regulations) and redundancies. Sophie also has experience of trade union disputes.

Sophie is regularly instructed in relation to issues arising out of the termination of employment, including unfair dismissal and redundancy, breach of contract (both in the Employment Tribunal and in the High Court), wrongful dismissal and restrictive covenants.

Sophie has particular expertise in relation to jurisdictional matters, including time points, statutory dispute resolution procedures, illegality, employee status, choice of forum (Employment Tribunal/High Court) and issue estoppel.

 Recent/notable cases include:

  • Barua v HM Prison Service [2007] IRLR 4 (EAT) (construction of statutory dispute resolution procedures)
  • Patel v Leicester City Council (2007) (Sophie is currently instructed in an appeal to the Court of Appeal involving construction of the statutory dispute resolution procedures)
  • Maharatta-Sharma v BBC World Service (2007) (recently instructed by the BBC World Service to appear in a 5-day Employment Tribunal case)
  • Khan v Delta Airlines (2007) (recently instructed by Delta Airlines to appear in a 7-day Employment Tribunal case)
  • Cantor Index v Dougall (2007) (Sophie is currently instructed in High Court litigation involving breach of contract)
  • McCarrick v Harrods (2006) (Sophie was led by Timothy Brennan QC in an Employment Appeal Tribunal case)
  • Apelogun-Gabriels v London Borough of Lambeth (2006) (acting for the Respondent in a case involving alleged discrimination on grounds of religion in relation to the distribution of homophobic materials)
  • Mukoyogo v Worcester NHS Trust (2006) (21-day claim by a senior hospital consultant involving allegations of race discrimination and victimisation over a 3-year period)
  • McCarthy v Decillion (2006) (high value claim involving the entitlement of brokers to commission)
  • Edwin v Danwood Group (2006) (entitlement to commission and bonus based on an analysis of express and implied terms)

Commercial and Professional Negligence

Sophie advises and acts in the professional negligence field, in particular in relation to solicitors' negligence.

She also advises and acts in a wide range of commercial and contractual disputes, including:

  • Construction of contractual terms
  • Implication of terms
  • Bonus claims, including discretionary bonuses
  • Commission claims, including clawbacks
  • Breach of contract claims
  • Claims under the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 1930, including applications to restore companies to the register
  • Construction of insurance policy wordings
  • Avoidance of policies of insurance for misrepresentation and non-disclosure
  • Breach of warranty claims
  • Position of innocent joint insureds
  • Fraudulent insurance claims

Recent/notable cases include:

  • Cantor Index v Dougall (2007) (instructed in High Court litigation involving breach of contract)
  • Grant Thornton v Brit Syndicate & Others (2006) (assisted Colin Wynter QC in advising as to coverage under insurance policy)
  • Moorhouse v Kidd Rapinet Solicitors (2006) (advised St. Paul's Travelers in relation to solicitors' negligence claim)
  • Llanyrafon Properties (Hotels) Limited v British Telecommunications plc (advised BT in relation to allegations of breach of contract and misrepresentation in respect of the installation and maintenance of a telephone system in substantial premises) (2006)
  • MYLA v Thorneycroft Solicitors (assisted Colin Edelman QC in advising Zurich as to coverage under insurance policy in connection with the collapse of a large scale housing disrepair scheme) (2006)
  • McCarthy v Decillion (2006) (high value claim involving the entitlement of brokers to commission)
  • Edwin v Danwood Group (2006) (entitlement to commission and bonus based on an analysis of express and implied terms)
  • Hedges v Royal Mail Group plc (2006) (advised Royal Mail in relation to a fraudulent insurance claim)
  • Pratt v BAE (2005) (involving issues of contract construction)

Sophie has lectured widely and has written articles on insurance and reinsurance for the New Law Journal and Corporate Counsel.

Recent Seminars & Lectures

Employment

  • "Statutory Dispute Resolution Procedures" (2006)
  • "Using Tribunal Rules to Your Advantage" with Peter Edwards (2006)
  • "Remedies in Unfair Dismissal and Discrimination" with Joanna Heal (June 2006)
  • "PHI and Long-Term Sickness" with Suzanne McKie (April 2005)
  • "Rights of Working Parents" with Diya Sen Gupta (2005)
  • "Remedies in Discrimination" with Peter Edwards (2004)
  • "Post-Termination Discrimination" with David Griffiths-Jones QC (2004)

Commercial

Professional Membership

Committee member of the London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association
COMBAR, ELBA and ELA

Education

Inns of Court School of Law
B.A. (Hons) Law, St. Peter's College, Oxford
Middle Temple Benefactors' Scholarship
Harmsworth Entrance Exhibition

Articles

Fraud - the aftermath (New Law Journal) 2005
Follow the Settlements (Corporate Counsel) 2004