{"id":2979,"date":"2025-12-07T22:05:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T22:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2979"},"modified":"2025-12-08T03:01:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T03:01:37","slug":"you-dont-need-a-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2979","title":{"rendered":"You don’t Need a Lawyer!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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An interesting Employment Tribunal case<\/a> has appeared on the gov.uk website<\/a> that records the Tribunal decisions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

F versus University of Nottingham has few details, though it is related to disability discrimination. (In cases involving disability discrimination, the Tribunal may make a \u201cRestricted Reporting Order\u201d (RRO) where evidence of a medical nature may cause serious harm or embarrassment if publicly exposed). The subject matter of the case is not our interest here, though as usual a University was behaving badly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

F won. In two judgments on 9 and 19 Septembers 2025, F won a total of \u00a356,920.64 in compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

F was unrepresented, yet up against the feared Akua Reindorf KC<\/a> of Cloisters Chambers. Her fee and expenses for appearing as counsel for the University of Nottingham will have been at least in five figures. The University will have also used its insurance lawyers (probably Shakespeare Martineau) and its legal services department. The total cost to the University was likely substantial, > \u00a3100,000s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many academics are mistreated by their University, but are reluctant to go to Employment Tribunals because of the perceived cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an example of a brave academic bringing a claim that involved little or no financial cost to him or herself, while the University incurred substantial legal expenses in defending and then losing the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academics are trained to pick up new information fast, scrutinise it in detail and understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you cannot afford a solicitor, most academics can easily represent themselves. You can also rely on guidance available from ACAS, the Employment Tribunal website and other reputable web sources (even chatGPT). Support from a trade union, even if limited, can also be useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t wait forever for a University\u2019s \u201cinternal investigation.\u201d <\/strong>There’s a danger they\u2019ll cynically drag it out just long enough for you to miss the Employment Tribunal deadlines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the University appoints its solicitor, you can communicate with them directly since you are not represented. Speaking by telephone on a \u201cwithout prejudice\u201d basis is more straightforward than trying to write formal legal letters, and you should keep a clear record of all conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And remember, <\/em>those calls cost the University hundreds of pounds an hour … \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the process, make repeated Data Subject Access Requests, maintain well-organised files containing your evidence, correspondence, timelines, and notes. Follow any case management orders from the Tribunal and prepare your witness statements, chronology and list of issues carefully. Present your case factually and clearly. Bringing a claim in this way usually involves little or no financial cost to you, while universities often incur substantial legal expenses in defending such matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of other examples of unrepresented Davids triumphing over the lawyered up University of Goliaths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is another famous one.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The claimant, Dr D\u2019Arcy \u2014 a lecturer in Medieval and Early-Modern English Literature \u2014 was dismissed by University of Leicester in 2020 as part of a redundancy restructuring.  The Employment Tribunal found that her dismissal was unfair <\/strong>and awarded her a remedy of \u00a372,487.50. Dr D’Arcy was unrepresented and up against Tom Coughlin KC<\/a> of Cloisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please don’t put up with mistreatment from your University. You can do it yourself and win, if you have a strong case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you are asking for moderate damages (~ \u00a320,000), then your University will find it much cheaper to settle with you. So you probably won’t need to go to Tribunal at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An interesting Employment Tribunal case has appeared on the gov.uk website that records the Tribunal decisions F versus University of Nottingham has few details, though it is related to disability discrimination. (In cases involving disability discrimination, the Tribunal may make a \u201cRestricted Reporting Order\u201d (RRO) where evidence of a medical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2979"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3036,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2979\/revisions\/3036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}