Allison Bailey v Garden Court Chambers - Court Costs Appeal

Claim and counter claim for costs - unusual in an employment tribunal

Status 7 July 2023

Allison Bailey has prevailed in her costs application. Garden Court Chambers have been ordered to pay Allison £20,000 in costs. Garden Court have not succeeded in their counter claim for costs.

Full judgement can be read here.

Allison’s update on her website can be read here and her press release is here.

Status 29 June 2023

Submissions from both sides were concluded. Tomorrow is reserved discussion amongst the tribunal members and there was no guidance on when a decision is expected. Normally parties bear their own costs in an employment tribunal. Costs can be awarded by a tribunal if one of the parties has behaved vexatiously, disruptively, abusively or otherwise unreasonably in bringing proceedings or the way they have conducted themselves during those proceedings.

Allison Bailey brought a claim against Garden Court Chambers for alleged unreasonable and deficient preparation of the trial bundle. Garden Court Chambers applied for costs in relation to detriments 1 & 3 by Allison Bailey on the grounds that these were unreasonable. Detriments 1 & 3 are set out in our previous post here.

The amount of costs estimated on both sides were substantial; Allison Bailey reporting £765,000 (approximate) of costs having crowdfunded £500,000. Garden Court Chambers estimated £760,000 to defend the employment tribunal.

Summary of our previous coverage can be found here: Allison Bailey Omnibus of Proceedings

Live tweet sessions

29 June 2023 - morning session

29 June 2023 - afternoon session

Abbreviations

AB or C - Allison Bailey, Claimant

BC - Benjamin Cooper, KC barrister for claimant

GCC - Garden Court Chambers, Respondent

E J - Employment Judge Goodman

JR - Jane Russell, barrister for GCC

PM - Panel members

There were many references to the solicitors on both sides: Peter Doyle (PD) of Doyle Clayton (DC) and Jacqueline McGuigan (JM) acting for Garden Court Chambers.

Press Coverage

This section includes links to a selection of press coverage about the case. These links are included without comment and are not endorsed by Tribunal Tweets. This is a sample of coverage only, with most recent first - it is not comprehensive. Please DM our main Twitter account to submit coverage from an established news outlet. Any paywalled article must be archived.