Martin Fodder
Martin is an Associate Tenant at Colleton Chambers through which he accepts instructions for matters arising in and solicitors from the West Country in the fields of employment and disciplinary/regulatory law (Martin also practices from Littleton Chambers in London which is one of the top-ranked employment sets by Legal 500 and Chambers). Martin acts for employers and employees in most areas of employment law. He has a broad range of experience covering most business and industrial sectors from financial services to fast food to coal mining and has also worked for many public sector clients in the education, health and local government spheres.
Martin is listed as a "Leading Junior" in Employment Law, Legal 500 (2010) and there described as 'very amiable', 'reliable' and 'calm in a crisis'. He is also featured in the current Chambers UK Guide as follows :-
"....a barrister who just gets it. He is incredibly knowledgeable on whistle-blowing issues and provides clients with practical, commercial advice. One source noted: "Martin gives a problem some thought then comes up with a perfect solution we'd not thought of."
Martin is the Vice Chair of the Industrial Law Society for the year 2010-2011.
At appellate level his appearances include cases on jurisdiction of employment tribunals over overseas employments; Jackson v Ghost Inc [2003] IRLR 824 and Financial Times v Bishop EAT 2003. Dan Tran v Greenwich Vietnam Community [2002] IRLR 735 CA concerned the duty of an ET to give reasons. Hinton v University of East London CA [2005] IRLR 552 concerned compromise agreements, Governing Body of St Albans School v Neary CA [2010] IRLR 124 related to ET procedure and orders for costs in the Court of Appeal and BP v Elstone [2010] IRLR 558 dealt with the meaning of "employer" in the whistleblowing legislation.
Martin is a joint author with John Bowers, Jeremy Lewis and Jack Mitchell of "Whistleblowing: the law and practice" Oxford University Press 2007, a new edition of which is in preparation. He regularly speaks on whistleblowing law. Apart from the BP case his recent Whistleblowing work includes Killeen & Andrews v HCL Contracts Limited 4 days April 2010 in Birmingham ET which was the successful defence of a claim that employees had been dismissed because they had made protected disclosures. The claim was dismissed because the disclosures were not made in good faith and in any event had not been the reason or principal reason for the dismissals. Instructed by Wansboroughs, Devizes
Martin is joint editor (with John Bowers, Jeremy Lewis and Eleena Misra of Littleton) of the Employment volume of Atkin: Court Forms (Butterworths) (2007) Martin also has considerable experience of confidential information and post termination restraint litigation and here too has acted for a wide range of clients, from publishing companies to city dealing houses. Cases include: Dent Wizard v Thomas HCQB 2001 and Cantor Fitzgerald v Wallace [1992] IRLR 215
Discrimination law is a further area of expertise in which Martin has acted for and advised (amongst others)
- a major UK airline resisting an allegation of sex discrimination;
- a firm of solicitors in respect of a race discrimination claim brought by an ex solicitor employee;
- a major financial plc resisting allegations of sex discrimination and harassment;
- a social worker training quango in respect of a race discrimination claim;
- an NHS Trust resisting claims for equal pay from 5 female consultants;
- universities resisting race discrimination and victimisation claims
- social housing providers, a children's charity and a regulatory body resisting disability discrimination claims.
Martin is the Joint Editor (with John Bowers QC, Jeremy Lewis and Elena Misra of Littleton of the Equal Opportunities volume of Atkin : Court Forms (Butterworths) (2007) (a new edition of this volume is in the course of preparation) and a is also a contributor to the Law Society's new Guide to the Equality Act.
In the area of Transfer of Undertakings Martin has advised or acted for a wide range of clients including an airline, a major insurance company, outsourcing contractors, solicitors and local/regional government institutions. He has fought and advised on a number of cases concerning the service provider change provisions of TUPE 2006. He appeared in Playle v Churchill Insurance EAT 1999 on the issue of whether an economic entity retained its identity following a transfer. He is a Contributor to "Transfer of Undertakings", Sweet & Maxwell (ongoing) and to "Cross Border Transfers and Employee Rights" Tothill 2004 ed. Susan Mayne and has written various articles with John Bowers on this area.
Recent TUPE work includes:-
- Advising a local authority with regard to the employment aspects of its partnership agreement with a PCT
- Advice to an arm's length (housing) management organisation facing claim for failure to consult under TUPE
- Advice to firms of solicitors who had lost term contracts for supply of legal services and the TUPE implications of such losses.
- Dispute between two advertising agencies as to whether TUPE 3 (1) (b) applied when one lost a contract for the supply of advertising services to the other (ongoing).
- Jones v Cornwall County Council and Others: Bristol ET: whether TUPE 3 (1) (b) applied where the Law Society changed the composition of a panel of solicitors providing advice via a national helpline. Issues of fragmentation.
- Employment Tribunal Leeds; Strangeway v Clipper Logistics Limited & Others; 5 days, November 2009: whether TUPE applied where there was a change in the corporate identity of the client to whom the services were provided.
Regulatory/disciplinary experience includes recent work in cases before the Bar Standards Board (for BSB), for the disciplinary committee of a national political party (as counsel for the party and also as legal adviser to the committee) and the Conduct Committee of the General Social Care Council (for the registrant).
Martin is also an ADR Group Accredited Mediator and has acted as Mediator in over a dozen employment and professional negligence disputes through Littleton Dispute Resolution Services Limited.
Outside of the law
In his spare time Martin enjoys sailing on the Dart, rowing, canoeing, walking his dog and trying to keep the garden under control.