Andrew Burns QC > Chambers of Andrew Burns QC > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Devereux Offices
Devereux
QUEEN ELIZABETH BUILDING, TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 9BS
England
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Andrew Burns QC
Position
Andrew Burns QC specialises in complex commercial, employment and industrial disputes, particularly injunctions, and has featured in some of the leading appellate cases in employment law and trade disputes in recent years including Malone & Ors v British Airways Plc, ASLEF v London Midland, RMT v Serco, and Prophet plc v Huggett. Two of Andrew’s cases were included in Personnel Today’s ‘Six employment law decisions that will shape 2019’: Kostal v Dunkley (changing employment contracts outside of collective bargaining) and Ali v Capita (discrimination between payments for shared parental leave and maternity leave).
Andrew acted for Royal Mail in its injunction to prevent the national postal strike (Royal Mail Group v CWU), in a number of recent airline and airport disputes and appeared for Birmingham City Council in the recent bin workers’ strike (Birmingham City Council v Unite the Union). He has acted in industrial action disputes for British Airways, London bus companies, BT, Post Office, Fujitsu, South West Trains and Citylink. He has recently appeared in both of the first two European Works Council appeals and has numerous appearances in business cases in the DIFC Courts and Court of Appeal in Dubai.
He is a leading silk in insurance and reinsurance disputes appearing in the Supreme Court in Durham v BAI (Run Off) Ltd (the Employers’ Liability Policy Trigger Litigation in asbestos insurance cases such as Redman v Zurich) and acted in litigation relating to 9/11 reinsurance disputes (Simmonds v Gammell and Allianz v Tonicstar).
For more information on Andrew’s practice and latest case highlights, please consult his full Devereux profile.
Career
Called 1993 Middle Temple; Bencher 2018; Silk 2015; Crown Court Recorder 2009.
Publications: Andrew is a co-author of the Law of Reinsurance with Colin Edelman QC (2nd Ed. 2013) and Bean on Injunctions (13th Ed. 2018). He is co-general editor of Discrimination Law (Bloomsbury Professional).
Memberships
COMBAR, BILA, ELA, LCLCBA, ELBA, ILS, PNBA, ELS
Education
Dover Grammar School for Boys; Downing College, Cambridge (MA); Astbury Scholar, Middle Temple.
Leisure
Scouting, outdoor activities, theatre.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Employment
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Andrew Burns QC – Devereux ‘ Highly intelligent, very sharp but also client friendly and commercial. Gains the confidence of clients quickly. Also responsive, and turns work around quickly when required. ’
Routinely acting in complex and headline disputes across the full spectrum of employment law, Devereux has ‘an impressive roster of employment barristers at every level of experience‘. In one of the most important industrial relations cases of recent years, Andrew Burns QC (who was elected head of chambers in January 2021) recently represented the appellant in the Supreme Court in Kostal UK LTD v Dunkley, which considers the meaning of “the prohibited result” for the purpose of section 145B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, which was deployed throughout the pandemic by unions attempting to stop employers changing contracts. In Boillereau v HSBC, Bruce Carr QC acted for the dismissed former global head of currencies and commodities at HSBC in a high-value whistleblowing claim concerning how the bank’s foreign exchange business was conducted. Marianne Tutin, frequently unled against senior counsel (including silks), is a notable rising star in chambers.
London Bar > Insurance and reinsurance
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Andrew Burns QC – Devereux ‘ Highly intelligent, client friendly, commercial and responsive. ’