Harry is developing a practice across all of Chambers’ core areas, including personal injury, tax, employment, insurance & reinsurance, and commercial litigation.

Harry has been instructed as junior counsel in a number of large and complex cases and has recently appeared in the Supreme Court as junior counsel to Robert Weir QC in the case of Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd v Dring [2019] UKSC 38. He also regularly acts as sole counsel in smaller disputes.

Prior to commencing Pupillage, Harry read Philosophy at Cambridge and obtained a masters from UCL where he studied the nature of promises.

• Employment

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  Harry is developing a broad practice covering all areas of employment law. He is regularly instructed to appear at both preliminary and final hearings, acting for both claimants and respondents. He has acted in cases involving a wide variety of issues and is particularly familiar with cases of unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing and pay claims. 

  Harry has also received instructions in the Employment Appeal Tribunal and is comfortable with complex appellate litigation. 

  Harry is currently instructed in a number of matters in the Employment Appeal Tribunal following successful preliminary hearings in the ET, including:

  • Johnson v Latchman (UKEAT/0239/19/OO) Harry acted for the successful Claimant, responding to an appeal against a decision to extend the time for a Claimant to bring a claim for disability discrimination. Tucker J found that the ET's findings were open to it, and that, in any event, she would have made the same decision;
  • Godwin Jumbo v Zonal Retail Data Systems (UKEAT/0275/19/LA) Harry acted for the Respondent and responded to an appeal against a decision not to allow the Claimant to amend his claim to add four new causes of action where the Claimant had argued the ET had misapplied both the tests for extension of time and the balance of hardship test for applications to amend;
  • Le Page v East London NHS Foundation Trust (UKEAT0161/19/OO) Harry represented the Respondent who successfully applied for costs following withdrawal of the Claimant's appeal. Eady J accepted the Respondent's submissions and awarded costs having found that the appeal was both unreasonable and misconceived; and
  • An appeal against a substantive finding of discrimination arising from disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments where the ET failed to properly apply the test(s) for causation, acting for the Appellant.

   

  Harry has recently been instructed in the following cases:

  • Sterling v Genesis Research Trust and Professor Lord Winston (2204906/2020) Harry acted for the successful Respondents opposing an application for interim relief on the basis that the redundancy exercise leading to the Claimant’s dismissal was likely genuine.
  • A highly contentious whistleblowing case (acting for the Respondent) in which anonymisation orders have been made and the disclosures are said to have been made in bad faith currently listed for an 8 day full merits hearing. Harry has been successful in defending the anonymisation order despite challenge by the Claimant, which will continue until the final hearing.
  • Black v FCO Services - A ten day trial for constructive unfair dismissal and disability discrimination in which the Harry acted for the Respondent (led by Chris Stone) and successfully restricted the scope of the Claimant's claim to the month prior to dismissal although the claim related to events that took place several years beforehand.
  • Robertson v British Telecommunications plc - Harry acted for the Respondent in the two-day remedy hearing, dealing with issues of pensions loss and loss of earnings over a period of two years following dismissal, and was successful in obtaining judgment in the sum contended for by the Respondent which was roughly half the sum that the Claimant was seeking.
  • Douglas v British Telecommunications plc - A two day trial for unfair dismissal following poor performance in which Harry was successful in every aspect of the case.
  • Jones v Royal Mail Group Limited - A case in which Harry acted for the successful Claimant and established that the Respondent's misconduct proceedings had been procedurally unfair. 

   

  In addition to regular appearances in the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal, Harry’s practice includes drafting witness statements, assisting in grievance and disciplinary investigations, and advising clients in conference.

• Personal Injury

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  Harry has experience in a wide range of personal injury matters. He regularly acts as sole counsel in personal injury cases on the multi-track and has appeared in a large number of trials of matters allocated to the fast track. He represents both Claimants and Defendants.

  Harry was instructed as junior to Rob Weir QC in a case concerning access to court documents and appeared in the Supreme Court (as junior counsel) in the matter of Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd v Dring [2019] UKSC 38. Harry acted for the successful Respondent.

  Harry's recent instructions include:

  • A case in which the Claimant suffered a severe Orthopaedic Injury after which he was diagnosed with dementia, leading to issues with lack of capacity and potential Court of Protection involvement in the management of damages;
  • A case in which the Claimant suffered a severe psychiatric injury caused by defective plumbing at his place of work;
  • A case in which the Claimant appeared to be suffering from chronic pain and was subject to a continuing loss of earnings due to an unresolved psychological injury; and
  • A case in which the Claimant's injury was likely to be permanent and would disadvantage the Claimant on the open labour market.

   

  Harry is also commonly instructed for interim applications in larger matters, including:

  • A recent instruction in a £250,000 chronic pain case,
  • An eleventh hour application for expert handwriting evidence in a matter involving allegedly forged documents,
  • An application for costs on account in which the Court ordered payment of 80% of the Claimant's costs budget,
  • Approval hearings, and
  • Numerous Costs and Case Management Conferences (CCMCs).

   

  His areas of expertise include:

  • Road traffic accidents
  • Motorcycle accidents
  • Accidents overseas
  • Employers' liability cases
  • Occupiers’ liability cases
  • Tripping and slipping cases

   

  As pupil to Jonathan Butters, Harry also gained experience in fatal injuries, clinical negligence and asbestos related diseases.

• Tax

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  Harry has a broad practice in tax. He has experience in both contentious and non-contentious matters and acts on behalf of both taxpayers and the revenue. He has experience in Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax, and overseas issues such as the Transfer of Assets Regime, as well as the procedural aspects of challenging decisions by the Revenue.

  Harry recently acted for the taxpayer in HMRC v Kickabout Productions Limited in the Upper Tribunal which concerned the correct application of the Ready Mixed Concrete test in IR35 cases (led by Georgia Hicks). Harry was also involved previously in a dispute with the revenue concerning the application of IR35 to the business of a television personality.

  Harry’s recent advisory work includes:

  • Providing comprehensive advice concerning the repayment of an interest free loan by an offshore trust, giving rise to issues under the Transfer of Assets Regime and the repayment of a debt, and the meaning of a "debt on a security" under the TCGA 1992.
  • Advising (as junior to Marika Lemos) on the unwinding of a structure involving multiple offshore trusts, sub-trusts and companies, giving rise to numerous issues including the application of part 7A of ITEPA, the Transfer of Assets Regime, Capital Gains Tax and SDLT.

   

  Harry has recently been instructed in a number of tax cases on behalf of the revenue (led by Marika Lemos) including:

  • An alleged tax avoidance scheme which sought to dispose of trust property in the UK and acquire similar trust property offshore to avoid a charge to inheritance tax of around 2.4 million pounds;
  • An alleged tax avoidance scheme which sought to artificially engineer capital losses to reduce a charge to capital gains tax of around seven hundred thousand pounds; and
  • An alleged tax avoidance scheme intended to circumvent capital gains tax in which the issues involve the identification of a "qualifying option" under s.143 TCGA 1992 and application of the Penalties Regime under both the Finance Act 2007 and the Taxes Management Act 1970.

   

• Insurance & Reinsurance

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  Harry is developing a practice in insurance litigation.

• Commercial Litigation and Disputes

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  Harry accepts work in a variety of commercial matters and regularly receives instructions from large UK based service providers.

  Harry has recently been instructed as sole counsel in the following cases:

  • A case concerning the non-delivery of goods and non-payment of invoices valued at around £45,000
  • Enforcement action taken following a costs order of £55,000

  During the course of pupillage, Harry gained experience of litigation in UK courts involving jurisdictional issues posed by non-domestic parties, and disputes arising from international arbitration. 

• Financial Mis-Selling and Consumer Credit

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  Harry's work in this field includes claims arising from the mis-selling of PPI and timeshare misselling. His is familiar with the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the practical elements of consumer credit litigation. 

  Harry's recent cases in this area include:

  • Successfully resisting a Defendant's attempt to strike out a PPI claim brought many years after the expiry of the primary limitation period;
  • A claim for timeshare misselling in which multiple agreements had been entered into and subsequently refinanced; and
  • An unfair relationships claim under s.140A CCA in which the Claimant had signed a compromise agreement and it was argued that no adequate compensation had been provided under that agreement.

  Harry was exposed to a variety of consumer credit claims as pupil to Jonathan Butters.

• Off-payroll working (IR35)

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  Harry acted for the taxpayer in HMRC v Kickabout Productions Ltd [2020] UKUT 0216 (TCC) in the Upper Tribunal. The case concerned a number of issues including the proper application of the Ready Mixed Concrete test and the proper construction of hypothetical contracts of employment for the purposes of IR35.

  Harry has previously assisted Marika Lemos on behalf of a taxpayer in preparing pre-action correspondence in relation to a dispute with HMRC over the application of the IR35 provisions.

  Harry also has experience of worker and employee status issues in the context of Employment Tribunal litigation and is able to draw upon experience of disputes in both revenue and employment cases.