Martina Murphy > Chambers of James Counsell KC and Keith Bryant KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
Outer Temple Chambers Offices
Outer Temple Chambers
THE OUTER TEMPLE, 222 STRAND
LONDON
WC2R 1BA
England
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Martina Murphy
Position
Martina Murphy practice focuses on employment, group litigation and professional discipline.
Martina’s “advocacy is excellent”, as is her ability “to relate to clients and really understand their aims“.
She regularly appears unled in the appellate courts including the EAT and the Court of Appeal and is often instructed directly on appeals without having appeared below. She is currently instructed in group employment litigation on behalf of 40+ Claimants. She recently succeeded in defending an appeal before the EAT, which upheld that s.19 Equality Act 2010 does allow claims of associative indirect discrimination (BA v Rollett & Ors, Minister for Women and Equalities intervening [2024] EAT 131). She has also recently been led by Andrew Short KC in the Court of Appeal case of R (on the application of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and others) v (1) HMT and (2) The SoS for the Home Department [2024] Pens. L. R. 10; a pensions, public law and discrimination case where the potential quantum was valued at £19 billion+.
Martina acted for the Respondents in the first Employment Tribunal case to determine that a member of the clergy (assistant curate), had ‘worker’ status for the purposes of bringing a whistleblowing detriment claim, applying the ‘Gilham’ extension applying Article 14 and Article 10 Convention rights. (The Revd. Green v The Lichfield Diocesan Board of Finance, Case no 2409635/2022 (17/8/23)).
Martina is also the Chair of the Employment Law Bar Association (ELBA).
Education
Masters (LLM), Labour Law, London School of Economics and Political Science
Shortlisted for Advocate’s Bar Pro Bono Junior of the Year 2021
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Employment
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3Martina Murphy – Outer Temple Chambers ‘Martina is a very astute tactician and a highly effective cross-examiner.’
Outer Temple Chambers is ‘very strong for employment‘. Members of the set continue to act in high-profile, complex equal pay claims, whistleblowing claims, discrimination matters and pensions cases, and the group reports an increase in internal investigations. The ‘excellent‘ Andrew Short KC continues to be kept busy handling complex multi-party equal pay claims. Andrew Allen KC and Alex Line successfully represented the Ministry of Justice and Lord Chancellor before the Employment Tribunal in relation to allegations of part-time worker discrimination brought by salaried Circuit Judges who used to sit as recorders who were appointed as Circuit Judge in April 1995 onwards, alleging that the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 scheme’s terms were less favourable than the Judicial Pensions Act 1981’s scheme, and that their sittings as recorders should be compensated in terms of pension entitlement. In 2023 Martina Murphy joined the team, and Emily Gordon-Walker was appointed a full-time Employment Judge.