Cloisters

Employment and Discrimination

Olivia is a courageous advocate with a strong court presence. She is thorough in her preparation, sharp in cross-examination and has a reassuring but no-nonsense approach with clients. Olivia takes on complex and novel cases as lead advocate, often against KC opponents or teams. Olivia recently represented the Respondent in the highly-publicised case of Forstater v Center for Global Development. She is also part of the barrister team acting for hundreds of Claimants in equal pay litigation against well-known supermarkets. Olivia has been a part-time judge in the Employment Tribunals since 2000.  Olivia regularly appears in Employment Tribunals, the High Court and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. She has also appeared as junior counsel in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in cases of great significance, including: Williams v Swansea University [2019] 1 W.L.R. 93; X v Mid Sussex CAB and Ors [2013] 2 C.M.L.R. 16; and British Gurkha Welfare Society & Others v Ministry of Defence [2010] All ER (D) 131 (Oct) – which went to the ECtHR). Olivia is acclaimed for her "client-focused and commercial outlook, and has a broad employment practice that has seen her handling work at the appellate level" and "a popular choice for discrimination claims of all type. Commended for her ability to pair the fields of commercial and employment law, she provides clients with a vigorous and incisive style of representation." Olivia has also been asked to appear live on BBC radio and BBC News television numerous times discussing employment law developments and breaking judgments.

Called 2007; Middle Temple. Publications include: ELA Briefing February 2015: “How far can a Court go to assist a Litigant in Person?”; LAG Discrimination Law Handbook 2013 (3 Chapters); Solicitor’s Journal, Half Year Review, 2013 ‘Treated Equally’; ELA briefing “Combined Discrimination” Vol 18 No.5 June 2011. Counsel Magazine, December 2008: ‘Discrimination: Sidelined by Semantics’. Counsel Magazine, April 2007: ‘An End to the Blame Culture?’ London Law Review, October 2006: ‘The Compatibility of a Bill of Rights in a Deliberative Democracy’.

ELA, ILS, ELBA and DLA

Edgbaston High School; King’s College London (LLB Hons law); College of Law (BVC); Sixth-form Scholar; Blackstone Scholar of Middle Temple; Scholar of University of Bologna (Italy).

Fitness, dancing, live music and travelling.