Barrister Profile

Sophie Belgrove

Year of Call2001

Profile

Sophie’s principal areas of practice are employment and commercial litigation.

Recommendations

Sophie is recommended as a leading junior in Employment Law by Chambers UK (2011):

  • Sophie is “a fantastic cross-examiner”, rated for being “client-friendly and handling cases with the minimum of fuss”
  • She “gets to grips with complex cases quickly and adopts a commercial and calm approach”
  • She is “one of the new generation”, “set to ensure a bright future for the set”; she “quietly but skilfully pushes the best arguments” and “remains calm in the face of the storm”

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, the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

She 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.

Sophie advises and acts in all areas of employment law, including discrimination (sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion and belief) and all issues arising out of the termination of employment, including wrongful and unfair dismissal. Sophie has expertise in all other aspects of the employment relationship, such as business restructuring (including TUPE and redundancies), trade union disputes and industrial action, whistleblowing, equal pay, and pensions, working time and wages matters.

Sophie has particular experience of litigation in the High Court in relation to breach of contract matters, especially bonus disputes, wrongful dismissal, breach of confidentiality and the enforceability of restrictive covenants, including applications for interim injunctions.

Notable cases include:

  • Mackintosh and others v British Airways plc (2011) – substantial claim arising from industrial action taken by cabin crew (instructed by Baker & McKenzie)
  • Kisler v Swiss Re (2011) (High Court) – restitutionary claim (instructed by Simmons & Simmons)
  • Bridgeman v Associated British Ports (2011) – Working Time Regulations 1998; led by Bruce Carr QC (instructed by Simmons & Simmons)
  • Bing Shen v Credit Suisse (Europe) Limited (2011) – sex discrimination claim (instructed by Credit Suisse)
  • Brocklebank and others v Aston Martin Lagonda Limited – multi-week collective redundancy case (instructed by Lewis Silkin)
  • Majchrzak v British Airways plc (2011) – indirect discrimination claim arising from industrial action taken by cabin crew; led by Bruce Carr QC and Andrew Burns (instructed by British Airways plc)
  • Kriek v Laing O’Rourke Services Limited (2010/2011) – multi-million pound whistleblowing claim; led by Bruce Carr QC (instructed by Addleshaw Goddard)
  • Vaio v John Guest Engineering Limited (2010/2011) (EAT) – race discrimination claim (instructed by Mayer Brown)
  • Hamed v British Midland Airways Limited (2010/2011) (EAT) – disability discrimination claim (instructed by Kemp Little)
  • Murphy v Bank of America – bonus claim (instructed by Allen & Overy)
  • Mockett v Credit Suisse (EAT) – unfair dismissal claim (instructed by Credit Suisse)
  • Nair v Alegro Capital Limited (High Court) – bonus claim (instructed by Mishcon de Reya)

Commercial Litigation

Sophie advises and acts in employment-related commercial litigation, and has particular expertise in relation to applications for interim relief, including interim injunctions and search orders. Sophie is frequently instructed in disputes involving restrictive covenants, team moves, breach of contract (including bonus disputes), pensions and breach of confidence.

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

  • Construction of contractual terms
  • Implication of terms
  • Bonus claims, including discretionary bonuses
  • Commission claims, including clawbacks
  • Breach of contract claims

Notable cases include:

  • Kisler v Swiss Re (High Court) – restitutionary claim
  • Nair v Alegro Capital Limited (High Court) – breach of contract
  • Murphy v Bank of America – bonus claim
  • Cantor Index v Dougall (High Court) – breach of contract
  • McCarthy v Decillion – commission claim
  • Edwin v Danwood Group – commission claim

Sophie also advises and acts in the professional negligence field. She has particular experience of claims involving solicitors’ negligence in employment law.

Insurance

Sophie advises and acts in insurance matters, including the construction of insurance policy wordings, breach of warranty claims, avoidance of policies of insurance for misrepresentation and non-disclosure and claims under the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 1930.

Click here to read a recent article by Sophie (with Alison Padfield) concerning the potential restrictions on the dismissal of employees who are in receipt of benefits under group PHI policies.

Notable cases include:

  • Grant Thornton v Brit Syndicate and others (High Court) – policy coverage; with Colin Wynter QC
  • Llanyrafon Properties (Hotels) Limited v British Telecommunications plc – breach of contract and misrepresentation
  • MYLA v Thorneycroft Solicitors (High Court) – coverage of insurance policy; with Colin Edelman QC
  • Hedges v Royal Mail Group plc – commercial fraud claim

Publications and Seminars

Publications

Sophie is a contributor to Jordans Employment Law Handbook. She has written numerous articles for various publications including ELA Briefing, New Law Journal and Solicitors Journal.

Recent publications:

Seminars

Sophie frequently gives seminars on a wide range of subjects. Recent seminar topics include industrial action, employment litigation strategy, unfair dismissal, discrimination and PHI. 

Sophie has recently given a seminar on industrial action with Bruce Carr QC.

Professional Memberships

ELA, ELBA, ILS, COMBAR, LCLCBA (former LCLCBA Committee member), PNBA.

Education

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