Mr David Reade KC KC > Chambers of Gavin Mansfield KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
Littleton Chambers Offices

Littleton Chambers
3 KING'S BENCH WALK NORTH, TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 7HR
England
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Mr David Reade KC KC

Work Department
Barrister specialising in commercial, employment, partnership and sport.
Position
Employment: all areas of both contentious and non-contentious employment law (including EU Law). Chambers and Partners Employment Silk of Year 2015. Legal 500 Employment Silk of the Year 2016 and shortlisted for 2017. David has appeared in numerous leading decisions in the field, including Barton v Investec (EAT), Hounga v Allen (SC), NUM v UK Coal (EAT), Brennan v Sunderland (CA), Rhys-Harper v Relaxion (HofL), Rutherford v Harvest Town Circle (EAT), Foley v Post Office (CA), Chesterton’s v Nurmohamed (CA) and Mencap v Tomlinson-Blake (SC). David has appeared as an advocate at all levels from Tribunal to the Supreme Court and before the CJEU. He successfully acted for the employers before the CJEU in the collective redundancy case arising out of the collapse of Woolworths. He has wide experience of the interrelationship between insolvency and collective redundancy having acted in, amongst others, the insolvencies of Comet and Phones4You and presently in the litigation concerning Carillion. He has particular experience of urgent injunctive relief, including search orders, freezing orders and anti-suit injunctions. He has appeared in a number of leading cases in the field including Ashcroft v National Theatre (interim specific performance) QBE v Dymoke (springboard injunctions)(HC), TFS Derivatives v Morgan (restrictive covenants)(HC), Pennwell v Ornstein (confidential data and database misuse) (HC) and Standard Life v Gorman (garden leave injunctions) (CA). His has particular experience of confidentiality and privacy issues in the context of hearings recently having successfully resisted an appeal by The Times against a privacy order, A v X ( EAT). David has extensive experience of TUPE and collective redundancy claims; his appellant cases include Kavanagh v Crystal Palace. (CA), Solectron v Roper (EAT), Ferguson v Astrea Asset Management (EAT), SNR Denton v Kirwin (EAT) and CWU v Royal Mail (CA). He has acted in many protected disclosure cases including in the Court of Appeal in the cases of Day v HEE(CA) and Chestertons v Nurmohamed (CA). He has extensive experience of Equal Pay Litigation acting both on public sector and private sector claims. His practice includes collective labour law issues, acting for both Trade Unions and employers. He acted for British Airways before the Court of Appeal in the industrial action by its’ cabin crew. His collective work has included advising and acting on recognition issues and in cases involving the restraint of industrial action. He successfully judicially reviewed the CAC on its recognition decision against Boots PLC and defended that review in the Court of Appeal. He has appeared on other collective issues including issues related to domestic and European Works Councils. He acted for Uber in the litigation on the status of drivers and has advised and acted for others in the sector. Recent work has seen him advising on national minimum wage and holiday pay issues, particularly in the care sector; he appeared for Mencap in the Supreme Court. He has experience of pension and share option claims and has advised various companies on the pension and employment issues arising out of changes to final salary pension schemes. He has successfully judicially reviewed the Pensions Regulator on the issue of the transnational application of auto enrolment, R v Pensions Regulator (HC), and has experience of arguing cross border and jurisdiction issues, Walker v Wallem Shipmanagement Ltd (EAT).
Commercial litigation: (including banking, financial services, insolvency and consumer credit). He has wide commercial experience including freezing and search orders. He has acted on and advised on numerous minority shareholder oppression claims. He has particular experience of banking litigation involving the sale of complex derivative and interest swap products; acting in Hockin v RBS one of the largest miss-sold derivative claims and Standish v The Royal Bank of Scotland (HC).He additionally had experience of commercial property based litigation successfully appearing in 2017 before the Supreme Court on an appeal on the correct basis for the assessment of business rates, Newbigin v SJ J Monk (SC).
Partnership: His work in this field includes extensive experience of partnership disputes and LLP disputes, including LP in the private equity sector. He has acted on these issues in the civil courts, in private arbitrations and before the Employment Tribunal on those matters for which it has jurisdiction over partners
Sport: David has wide experience of sport litigation and advisory work, including FA tribunals and agent and player disputes. Recent work includes acting Jess Varnish in her claims against British Cycling, acting for Sunderland FC in the defence of commission claims by a former director and advising the club on various football issues. Acting for Aston Villa in the defence of a claim. He acted for Bristol RFC in connection with the recruitment by the RFU of Steve Borthwick and has advised in connection rugby disciplinary issues. He has experience in acting in FA arbitrations.
Mediation: He has worked as a mediator since 2006
Career
Called 1983; Middle Temple; Law Lecturer 1983 to 1986, KC 2006; appointed Bencher of Middle Temple 2009; mediator 2006.
Memberships
COMBAR; Employment Law Association; Employment Bar Association; Industrial Law Society; Professional Negligence Bar Association; British Association for Sport and the Law; associate American Bar Association; International Bar Association. Association of Partnership Lawyers.
Personal
Anything competitive; music; trustee of the London Library.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Partnership
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2David Reade KC – Littleton Chambers ‘Tenacious and creative. Not afraid of a fight, and equally very commercial.’
Littleton Chambers covers a full range of partnership issues, including those that intersect with employment. Within partnership disputes, members are instructed by financial and professional services LLPs, alongside other areas of law including discrimination and whistleblowing, both domestically and internationally. David Reade KC covers company, partnership and LLP disputes, while head of chambers Gavin Mansfield KC has been involved in Armstrong and others v Taylor and others, a High Court claim between members in an investment management business, where the claimant group claims the managing partner and a second group of partners conspired to remove the claimant group’s influence to siphon away profits from them. Mohinderpal Sethi KC handles domestic and cross-border partnership and LLP disputes, and James Bickford Smith is noted for his expertise acting for individual LLP members in exit disputes.
London Bar > Employment
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1David Reade KC – Littleton Chambers ‘A tremendous barrister.’
Littleton Chambers is ‘a pre-eminent employment set with a wealth of talent at all levels‘. Among the silks, Gavin Mansfield KC‘s ‘legal knowledge is second to none‘, and has an excellent track record in advising on complex team move cases and business protection matters. David Reade KC is well known for his strength in handling equal pay litigation; Jeremy Lewis KC ‘has a breadth of knowledge of employment law that is unrivalled‘; and Nicholas Siddall KC is ‘a charming advocate, able to win over judges‘. In a recent work highlight, Adam Solomon KC, Niran de Silva KC, Sophia Berry and Charlotte Davies appeared in Jump Trading International Ltd v Couture and Verition Advisors (UK Partners) LLP, a business protection case involving the enforceability of a variable non-compete covenant – one which purported to grant the former employer discretion to determine a period between zero and twelve months- by means of an injunction. At the junior end of chambers, Lucy Bone handles a high volume of complex whistleblowing and discrimination claims, and Matthew Sheridan stands out as ‘a worthy opponent of any silk at the employment law Bar‘. The group was bolstered by the arrival of Tim Goodwin in November 2023.
London Bar > Sport
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2David Reade KC – Littleton Chambers ‘An absolutely superb all-rounder. Highly personable – the clients love him. Unmatched advocacy strategy skills. Great on paper. Will always achieve the best possible result for the client.’
Hailed as being ‘top drawer for sport and employment’, Littleton Chambers demonstrates genuine insight into commercial, investigatory, and regulatory matters within the sporting field, frequently acting for high-profile football managers and athletes. Paul Gilroy KC is an employment law specialist, acting for cricketer Darren Gough in a dispute with Yorkshire CCC, as well as representing Neil Warnock in the termination of his contract with Aberdeen. Ashley Cukier acts for Yorkshire CCC in its investigation of allegations of racist discrimination and harassment brought by Azeem Rafiq, while Mohinderpal Sethi KC has been appointed by British Gymnastics to lead independent investigations into allegations of abuse and safeguarding breaches by former Olympians. David Reade KC has expertise in defamation and breach of confidence claims, primarily in the football arena.
London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 5David Reade KC –Littleton Chambers ‘David is calm, measured and an incredible advocate. He can quickly cut through a complex dispute to identify the issues and has an excellent manner with clients.’