Catherine Urquhart Email & Phone Number

I’m a busy employment barrister, having taken an unusual route to law. I practise at 42 Bedford Row Chambers, based in London. My work in employment law includes representing both claimants and respondents in such matters as ‘ordinary’ and automatically unfair dismissal; redundancy; whistleblowing; discrimination claims; disputes over employment status; and bringing or defending interim relief applications. Increasingly, I am taking on appellate work in the Employment Appeal Tribunal.I haven't always been a barrister. After studying history at Oxford University, I trained as a journalist and spent the next 20 years working on a number of local and national newspapers, including ten years as Travel Editor of The Times, and also working for The Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Express. Eventually I swapped the departure lounge for the robing room and retrained as a lawyer. In 2010, I started pupillage at Ely Place Chambers, before taking tenancy and practising there as a junior barrister, covering a wide range of civil work in county courts and tribunals. In August 2020 I moved to 42 Bedford Row, where I now specialise in employment law.I am listed in the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners legal directories, and I regularly present seminars for solicitors on employment topics. Recent subjects have included: interim relief; unambiguous impropriety; employment law issues arising out of working from home; the use of covert recordings in employment tribunal proceedings; and managing sickness absence at work.My experience as a journalist has been a great fit for work as a barrister: the skills of absorbing new material fast, getting to grips with complex issues, and being able to present them lucidly are very much transferable ones.

Listed skills include Journalism and Feature Articles.