Neil is a Partner in the employment team, specialising in complex Employment Tribunal litigation with more than 20 years’ experience of handling Employment Tribunal litigation.

Neil qualified as a solicitor in 2005 and has a wide range of experience across contentious employment law matters including unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing, TUPE and trade union issues.

Coming from a Trade Union background, where he was the team manager of the North East Employment Rights Team of a national law firm, Neil has handled complex employment litigation across UK industry, local authorities, education, the prison service and NHS health trusts and has conducted litigation from the employment tribunal up to the Supreme Court.

Notable cases that Neil has handled include:

• Cable Realisations v GMB Northern [2009] All ER (D) 179 – An Employment Appeal Tribunal decision regarding TUPE information and an employer’s obligations prior to a transfer taking place.

• Allen and others v TRW Systems Limited [2013] All ER (D) 59 – An Employment Appeal Tribunal decision regarding the contractual nature of enhanced redundancy payments.

• Tyne and Wear Passenger Executive t/a Nexus v Anderson and Others [2018] EWCA Civ 2084 – A Court of Appeal decision regarding the ability of an employment tribunal to interpret contracts in a claim for unlawful deductions from wages.

• National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers and Another v Tyne and Wear Passenger Executive t/a Nexus [2024] UKSC 37 – A Supreme Court decision regarding the ability of an employer to rectify a collective agreement and the correct party to any claim for rectification.

Neil is ranked in Chambers where his strengths are described as:
“Neil’s knowledge, experience and overall approach make him stand out from the crowd”.