Introduction
Connor Wright joined Chambers in 2024 following a specialist pupillage in employment, personal injury, and costs, under the supervision of Sofia Ashraf, Paul Wilson, and Sophie Garner. Connor has a busy multi-disciplinary practice across the civil courts and Employment Tribunals. Connor’s principal areas of practice include:
• Employment
• Discrimination
• Trade Union Disputes
• Data protection and information
• Costs and commercial
• Personal injury
• Clinical negligence
• Torts not involving personal injury
Before joining the Bar, Connor taught Employment Law and Commercial Law at Durham University, where he also completed his master’s thesis. He later gained further experience as a County Court advocate, acquiring substantial advocacy experience in interim hearings, contractual disputes, personal injury, and fixed costs disputes.
Connor particularly enjoys working with clients from an early stage to ensure the best possible outcome. He offers a detail-oriented approach to his cases, leaving no stone unturned.
Outside of his practice, Connor enjoys bouldering, cooking and expanding his vinyl record collection.
Employment and Discrimination Disputes
Connor prides himself on working closely with clients to ensure that the best outcome is achieved for their needs. He aims to provide bespoke solutions and detail-oriented advice and advocacy.
Connor has successfully advised and represented a broad range of claimants and respondents in the Employment Tribunal. Connor’s concurrent experience in the County Court and High Court makes him well-placed to assist in relation to multi-disciplinary disputes. He regularly represents clients in the Employment Tribunal and civil courts concerning issues surrounding personal injury, data protection, and contractual disputes. Connor also regularly represents clients in relation to allegations of non-employment discrimination and breaches of contract in the civil courts.
Connor’s recent Employment Tribunal cases include:
• Successfully representing an executive claimant in an unfair dismissal dispute. The dispute turned on issues of continuity of service across varied executive positions and several companies in different jurisdictions, which were found to be under the effective control of the respondent;
• A 6-day hearing on behalf of an NHS Trust respondent, concerning failure to make reasonable adjustments and constructive unfair dismissal;
• Achieving a favourable outcome following a 5-day hearing on behalf of a respondent school. The dispute concerned allegations of disability discrimination, unlawful deductions of wages and breach of contract spanning several years, and constructive unfair dismissal;
• An unfair dismissal dispute arising from allegations of employment fraud;
• Successfully representing the respondent in a 3-day whistleblowing dispute
• Successfully representing the respondent, a social care provider, in an unfair dismissal claim;
• Successfully representing the respondent, a local authority, in a 6-day dispute concerning failure to make reasonable adjustments during a job application process;
• Successfully seeking dismissal of a claim for failure to comply with time limits, at a preliminary hearing.
Connor has also recently appeared as the sole junior in the High Court in an employment-related Extended Civil Restraint application on behalf of six public-sector claimants, led by Elizabeth Hodgetts.
Connor has acted for and advised clients in industries such as nursing, pharmacies, social care, education and higher-education, banking, and logistics, among others. Connor represents clients with respect to roles of all seniorities, including, most recently, a Chief Operating Officer.
He has experience in issues spanning:
• Unfair and wrongful dismissal;
• Discrimination, and disputes arising from disabilities;
• Harassment;
• Victimisation;
• Whistleblowing;
• Unlawful deductions from wages;
• Issues surrounding time limits;
• Privacy orders
• Open- and closed- preliminary hearings, including successfully applying for strike out;
• Pre-issue advice;
• ADR hearings;
• Minimum wage and holiday pay disputes;
• Contractual disputes, including but not limited to disputes surrounding shares; and
• Personal injury.
Trade Union Law
Connor is increasingly instructed to act on behalf of Trade Unions in employment disputes. Connor is versed in the goals and needs of Trade Unions, including the merits of litigation for the benefit of all Union members. He is pleased to advise and represent Trade Unions in strategic litigation in the Employment Tribunal and beyond.
Examples of Connor’s recent cases include:
• A dispute concerning allegations of Trade Union detriment, arising from the Claimant taking a concurrent position as a Trade Union Official
• Allegations of failure to inform and consult a group of 150 Union members during a TUPE transfer.
Costs and Commercial
Connor is an affiliate member of the Association of Costs Lawyers. He accepts instructions across the full range of specialist costs disputes. During his pupillage, Connor gained specialist experience in costs disputes in the County Court and the Employment Tribunal. He was involved in detailed assessment proceedings, costs applications, and other disputes arising from points of law.
Connor’s experience includes:
• Drafting retainers;
• Retainer issues, including CFA disputes and Mazur-related matters;
• Claims concerning the recovery of solicitors’ fees;
• Detailed assessment proceedings and solicitor-client costs assessments;
• Disputes surrounding the application (and dis-application) of the fixed costs regimes, past and present;
• Qualified One Way Costs Shifting;
• Issues arising out of allocation to the Fast Track and Intermediate Track;
• Budgeting and Costs and Case Management Conferences, allocation, and interim hearings;
• Wasted costs orders.
Connor has a busy courtroom practice and routinely advises and appears for clients in primary proceedings and related costs applications, in addition to costs-only disputes. For example, Connor’s recent cases have included:
• Redrafting a firm’s retainer with respect to non-contentious work;
• A claim against a client for recovery of solicitor’s costs, in which the client counterclaimed in professional negligence;
• Successfully representing a paying party in a complex costs-only dispute concerning the interplay between CPR Part 36, fixed costs, and disposal hearings;
• Solicitor-client detailed assessment proceedings on behalf of the receiving party;
• Appearing for a solicitor in a dispute about its own-client costs, resulting in a complete recovery.
Previously, during his time as a paralegal, Connor assisted with an appeal to the Court of Appeal concerning the rights of beneficiaries of a will to challenge solicitors’ fees.
More broadly, Connor advises and represents clients in commercial matters arising out of contracts, data protection, nuisance and negligence.
Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence and Torts
Connor regularly advises and represents claimants and defendants in the County Court. He has a range of experience, including psychiatric injury arising from data breaches, workplace stress, occupiers’ liability, RTA and Credit Hire matters, and disputes that fall (or would have fallen) within the EL/PL and RTA protocols. He is at-home in personal injury disputes concerning fraud and Fundamental Dishonesty.
Connor’s recent cases include a Multi-Track case concerning an allegation of abuse by a protected party. Connor represented the claimant, whose life had been shortened as a result of the abuse. Connor has also recently acted for the claimant in a Multi-Track employers’ liability dispute that arose from a crush injury.
Connor has a growing clinical negligence practice, and is happy to consider conditional fee arrangements. During pupillage, Connor gained experience in drafting and advocacy arising out of clinical negligence disputes, and is particularly familiar with the nuances of clinical negligence litigation involving private practitioners. Connor has recently advised on, and appeared unled for the Claimant in a dental negligence dispute concerning the avoidable loss of all of the Claimant’s natural teeth.
In addition to personal injury work, Connor also undertakes cases arising from torts that do not necessarily involve physical injury. His experience in this area includes:
• Data claims involving defamation, misuse of private information and the UK GDPR;
• Nuisance;
• Negligence; and,
• False imprisonment. Connor is often instructed to act for an against the police in related claims.
Education
BPC, University of Law: Outstanding
Master of Jurisprudence (by research), University of Durham: Pass Without Corrections
LLB (Hons), Law, University of Durham: 2:1
Selected Awards & Prizes
Gray’s Inn Lord Justice Holt Scholarship (BPTC)
University of Law, Birmingham: BPC Best Overall Student
