Emma Darlow Stearn joined chambers in October 2024, on successful completion of her pupillage.

Emma has a busy trial, appellate, and advisory practice. She frequently appears in the Employment Tribunal, including in multi-day trials, and has appeared in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, both led and unled. She is often instructed to appear against more senior opponents.

Emma accepts instructions across all areas of chambers’ work and has particular expertise in whistleblowing law and crossover cases involving employment, freedom of expression and/or media & information law, informed by her time working as a senior legal adviser for whistleblowing charity Protect.

Emma and Chris Milsom’s article on whistleblowing and worker status following MacLennan v The British Psychological Society (Protect and The Charity Commission intervening) [2024] EAT 166 can be found in the Employment Lawyers Association’s Briefing December 2024.

Emma’s article on the implications for whistleblowing claims of Wicked Vision v Rice [2024] EAT 29 can be found in the Employment Lawyers Association’s Briefing June 2024.

Employment & Discrimination

Emma acts on behalf of claimants and respondents/defendants across the full spectrum of employment, equality and discrimination law matters. She has acted in complex, sensitive and high-profile cases and has appeared in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, both as junior and sole counsel.

Recent instructions include:

• Dr Nigel MacLennan v The British Psychological Society (Protect and The Charity Commission intervening) [2024] EAT 166: (led by Chris Milsom) instructed by the Appellant in a landmark EAT appeal, which succeeded in opening the door for charity trustees to be afforded whistleblowing protection in line with Articles 10 and 14 ECHR (the question has been remitted back to the same ET to reconsider). Emma gave oral submissions on ground 4, succeeding in establishing that pre-work disclosures are capable of whistleblowing protection. Emma and Chris’ blog explaining the judgment can be found here. Press coverage for the case can be found here: The Times, The Third Sector, Psychreg, Civil Society, UK fundraising, Law 360.

• M Birkett v Integral UK Ltd EAT/2022/000574: (unled) successfully represented the Appellant/Claimant in his appeal against ET findings that his dismissal for redundancy was fair under s.98(4) ERA 1996. The EAT allowed both grounds of appeal.

• Represented the Respondent in a multi-day final hearing of an unfair dismissal claim.

• Advised multiple claimants on merit and quantum for their (joined) claims for failure to make reasonable adjustments, discrimination arising from disability, harassment related to disability, and constructive dismissal.

• Drafted a letter of response and advised the Respondent on merits and quantum for a s.29 EqA goods and services claim.

• Drafted a complex particulars of claim for claims of discrimination arising from disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments, harassment related to disability, victimisation and constructive unfair dismissal.

• Successfully negotiated settlement for a figure significantly above the Claimant’s valuation of their unfair dismissal claim, achieving a favourable position regarding confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses.

• Acted for the Claimant (an NHS doctor) at a hearing on employment status, to determine whether the Claimant was an employee working under: (i) an implied contract for the end user in a tripartite arrangement; and/or (ii) a fixed-term contract – succeeding in the latter argument.

• Successfully negotiated a high five-figure settlement sum for a Claimant (former Senior Sales Executive and Director) in a complex whistleblowing unfair dismissal, detriment (including the ‘detriment-of-dismissal’) and ordinary unfair dismissal claim, against multiple respondents. Involved drafting a complex schedule of loss, providing a merits and quantum assessment and advising on pre-trial strategy.

• Acted for the Respondent, successfully resisting the claimant’s amendment application to include claims of whistleblowing detriment, direct disability discrimination, race discrimination, and religion or belief discrimination.

• Acted for the Respondent in a successful deposit order application regarding the Claimant’s whistleblowing detriment claim.

• Acted for the Claimant, providing written advice and drafting an amended particulars of claim, for claims of: failure to pay national minimum wage, breach of working time regulations, working time detriment, whistleblowing detriment and dismissal, and health and safety dismissal.

• Acted for the Respondent in an application for strike out of victimisation, sexual harassment, holiday pay, unauthorised deduction of wages and breach of contract claims.

• Successfully negotiated favourable settlement, including important non-financial terms, for a Claimant carer in an unfair dismissal claim. Involved drafting a schedule of loss, providing a merits and quantum assessment and delivering nuanced advice in a sensitive case.

• Drafted a schedule of loss and advised on merits and quantum for a Claimant driver in a health and safety dismissal claim.

Personal injury & clinical negligence

Emma accepts instructions from claimants on the full range of clinical negligence and personal injury matters.

During pupillage, Emma received training on dealing with complex spinal injury and cauda equina cases, public and employer’s liability claims, and drafting schedules of loss for high-value catastrophic injury claims.

Recent experience include:

• Provided written quantum advice for a case involving a burn injury to a child, for consideration by the court at an infant approval hearing.

• Assisted William-Latimer Sayer KC in successfully resisting a late application to adduce expert evidence in a complex, high value clinical negligence claim, by producing a comprehensive research note on the applicable law.

Prior to Cloisters

Before starting pupillage, Emma worked as a senior legal adviser for whistleblowing charity Protect, advising clients on their whistleblowing rights, undertaking employment tribunal claim casework and training employers on whistleblowing law and investigations.

During her legal studies, Emma volunteered for the Free Representation Unit, representing social security claimants in their appeals; Hackney Migrant Centre, advocating for migrants’ rights; Protect and Can’t Buy My Silence, creating films to make the law on whistleblowing and NDAs more accessible, and Gray’s Inn’s Griffin Law project, teaching parliamentary debating to schoolchildren.

Prior to coming to the bar, Emma worked for more than a decade as a professional actress, musician, and musical director, including shows at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and in the West End, at regional theatres across the UK, Europe and the USA, and for Paramount Pictures, Channel 5 and BBC Radio 3.

Emma’s explainer videos on whistleblowing for Protect can be found at the following links:

• Protected Disclosures and Whistleblowing

• Whistleblowing: A Practical Guide

• 43J: Protection against NDAs

Qualifications

Bar Course, City Law School (Distinction, 86%), 2023

GDL, University of Law (Distinction, 87%), 2021

MA Theatre, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, 2012

BA English Language and Literature (European), University of Leeds (First Class), 2010

Awards

Lawworks Pro Bono Connect Award 2024

Gray’s Inn Bedingfield Scholarship (Bar Course merit-based / top award), 2022

City Law School Bar Vocational Studies Scholarship, 2022

University of Law Career-changer Scholarship (GDL merit-based / full-fee), 2020

Semi-finalist, University of Law GDL Moot, 2021

Could a purposive approach provide whistleblowing protection for charity trustees?, ELA Briefing, December 2024

Pro bono in pupillage, Counsel Magazine, September 2024.

To 47B or not to 47B? Whistleblowing claims following Wicked Vision, ELA Briefing, June 2024.

Balancing protection of reputation with freedom of expression: does the Defamation Act 2013 reverse the ‘chilling effect’ previous defamation law had on freedom of expression?, Gray’s Inn Student Law Journal, 2022.

ILS

ELA

FRU

ALBA

HRLA

JUSTICE

Highlight cases include:

• Dr Nigel MacLennan v The British Psychological Society (Protect and The Charity Commission intervening) [2024] EAT 166: instructed by the Appellant in the EAT, led by Chris Milsom, in a complex, landmark appeal regarding whether whistleblowing protection should apply to: (1) charity trustees, and (2) pre-work disclosures, where the requisite employment status has been achieved by the time of the alleged detriment/contravention. Emma drafted the skeleton for, and presented oral submissions on the issue of pre-work disclosures, and was successful in establishing that they are capable of protection.

• M Birkett v Integral UK Ltd EAT/2022/000574: (unled) successfully represented the Appellant/Claimant in his appeal against ET findings that his dismissal for redundancy was fair under s.98(4) ERA 1996. Allowing both grounds of appeal, the EAT found that the ET had erred in law by making inadequate factual findings and giving inadequate reasons as to whether reasonable steps were taken by the Respondent to: (1) find the Claimant alternative employment, and (2) ensure that the recruitment process for the one vacancy for which the Claimant was interviewed was fair.