3PB

Employment and Discrimination; Education; Public and Regulatory; Commercial.

Overview

Naomi joined 3PB following the completion of her pupillage in October 2019 and has since developed a busy and successful practice in a range of areas of civil law, with a particular focus on employment, education and public law.

She is ranked as ‘up and coming’ in Chambers and Partners and a ‘rising star’ in the Legal 500, and described as ‘an incredibly capable, strong, and diligent barrister’.

Naomi is based in the Oxford centre.

Prior to commencing pupillage, Naomi worked as a Judicial Assistant in the Court of Appeal, and as a teaching fellow and research assistant at University College London and the University of Oxford.

Employment and Discrimination

• Naomi Webber has a thriving employment practice, acting for claimants and respondents across the country. Her practice covers a wide range of employment law, including:
  • Unfair dismissal (including automatic unfair dismissal and constructive unfair dismissal)
  • All forms of discrimination (employment tribunal and county court)
  • Whistleblowing
  • Unlawful deduction from wages
  • Annual leave/holiday pay
  • Worker status
  • Redundancy
  • National Minimum Wage
  • Equal pay
  • Breach of contract (in the Employment Tribunal and County Court)

  Naomi appears regularly in the employment tribunals at preliminary hearings, multi-day final hearings and judicial mediations, as well as regularly drafting pleadings and providing written advice. She also has experience of employment matters in the county court and in the EAT.

  Naomi has been involved in group litigation, acting for one of 45 Respondents in a claim relating to discrimination in recruitment, and for one of 25 Respondents in a claim brought by 127 Claimants in relation to the ‘no jab, no job’ policy for care homes.

  Naomi has particular expertise in the field of holiday pay. She was junior counsel for the Respondent in Harpur Trust v Brazel [2022] UKSC 21 (appeal to the Supreme Court, concerning holiday pay for part-year workers). She has since provided extensive training on the implications of the judgment, as well as on other aspects of the law of holiday pay.

  Naomi’s background in university teaching means she is willing and able to provide training in a wide range of areas of employment law.

  Prior to pupillage, Naomi worked as a judicial assistant in the Court of Appeal, where she worked on a number of ground-breaking employment cases, in areas including National Minimum Wage, whistleblowing, territorial jurisdiction, variation of contract and harassment.

  Education Law

  Naomi Webber has a busy education practice, across a range of areas of law and a variety of jurisdictions. She regularly acts for and advises parents, local authorities and schools. Her experience includes:

  • Regularly appearing in the First-tier Tribunal for parents and local authorities in EHCP appeals, including refusal to issue EHC plans and appeals of sections B, F and I
  • Acting for parents and schools in disability discrimination claims in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal
  • Advising on breach of contract claims against independent schools
  • Acting for and advising students, schools, and universities in discrimination, negligence, and breach of contract claims in the County Court
  • Advising local authorities on policy decisions in relation to school admissions
  • Clerking school admissions panels and independent review panels (school exclusions)
  • She also regularly provides training to local authorities on admissions, exclusions and EHCP appeals

  Prior to pupillage, Naomi worked as a research assistant at the University of Oxford, examining the effect of the 2012 changes to the law of school exclusions.

  Naomi has a particular interest in religion and education and wrote her masters’ dissertation on whether children have a right to a secular education.

  Publications

  Naomi Webber was co-author with Lucinda Ferguson of "School Exclusion and the Law: A Literature Review and Scoping Survey of Practice." (Department of Education, University of Oxford, January 2015)

Administrative and Public Law

Naomi Webber is a member of the Attorney General's C panel.

She has assisted in disclosure exercises for high profile and complex judicial review claims, and appeared as junior counsel in OA (Somalia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] UKUT 00033 (IAC).

She also recently spent a year as junior junior counsel to the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Naomi has a particular interest in public law in the education context.

As a judicial assistant at the Court of Appeal, Naomi worked on a range of public law matters including immigration, asylum, human rights, school transport and the public sector equality duty.

Commercial

Naomi Webber has acted in a wide range of contractual matters in the County Court. She has advised and appeared for small businesses and individuals in matters including unpaid invoices, disputes over quality of work, consumer credit and costs.

Overlapping with her employment practice, she advises Claimants and Defendants on breach of contract claims in the employment context. She recently acted as specialist junior counsel in a commercial dispute, providing employment law advice for a complex multi-million pound claim arising out of a share-purchase agreement.

As part of her education law practice, Naomi also has a particular interest in contractual matters in the school and university settings. She has advised on contractual claims in relation to independent schools and out of school clubs, and acted for and against universities in breach of contract and discrimination claims.

Year of call 2017

Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA) Education Law Association (ELAS) Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) Employment Law Bar Association (ELBA) Industrial Law Society (ILS)

Bar Professional Training Course, City Law School, 2016-17 LLM in Law, University College London, 2015-16 BA Jurisprudence (Law), Worcester College, University of Oxford, 2011-2014 Inner Temple Exhibition Award, 2016