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.