I have almost 20 years experience appearing in tribunals and have been involved in cases at all levels of the court process, from Employment Tribunals; the Employment Appeal Tribunal; Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and have been involved in cases lasting 14 minutes up to over 30 days.

I represent both claimants and respondents: one day I could be representing a multi-national company whilst the next an individual claimant. This variety of workload ensures I am able to bring a wide range of experience to any claim I am involved in.

I regularly am instructed in cases involving:

• business transfers, including TUPE;
• pay;
• high value pension loss claims;
• unfair, constructive and wrongful dismissal;
• redundancy;
• employer insolvency;
• discrimination, equal pay and equality law;
• whistleblowing;
• illness-related disputes;
• non-competition, restrictive covenants and restraint of trade;
• gardening leave;
• injunctions; and
• local authority matters.

My advisory work often involves:

• drafting claims and responses for tribunal proceedings;
• advising on merits of claims and defences (including for insurance purposes);
• settlement agreements; and
• quantifying the value of claims and compensation.

I have experience as representative and judge at all stages of the regulatory and disciplinary process, I:

• sit as a Legally Qualified Chair of Police Disciplinary Panels (2015-);
• sit on the Bar Standards Boards Professional Conduct Committee (2018-2019) which was replaced by the Independant Decision Making Body (2019-)
• represent police forces when they act as Appropriate Authority disciplining their officers;
• represent those accused of professional misconduct: including teachers and nurses;
• am an independent assessor of disciplinary investigations for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (2015-2020);
• have sat as a barrister member of the Council of the Inns of Court's disciplinary panels.

Directory Comments

I am nationally recognised as a leading barrister in employment law by the two leading independent directories of the legal profession.

Chambers and Partners Guide to the Legal Profession have rated me as a leading junior from 2016 up to and including its most recent edition (2020) and makes the following observations about me:

• "He's a very knowledgeable and very able advocate." "He is a fantastic advocate who is always thoroughly well prepared and incredibly responsive."  (2021)
• “A fantastic advocate with first-class client skills.” (2020)
• "His advice is strategic, commercial and pragmatic and he is very clear and confident communicator.” (2020)
• "A pleasure to work with. He is extremely responsive and always very thorough and diligent." (2019)
• "He has an excellent manner with clients and communicates well with instructing solicitors." (2019)
• "Extremely responsive and thorough. His work is always fantastic. He is very down-to-earth and easy to work with and, importantly, he builds a strong rapport with clients very quickly." (2018)
• "he is very user-friendly, very easy to deal with and he makes you feel like you are his only client" (2017)
• "he is an excellent and experienced Employment Tribunal advocate" (2017)
• "It would be difficult to find a more helpful and responsive barrister" (2016)

The Legal 500 has rated me as a leading junior from 2013 to date (2019), and comments that:

• “He has the technical expertise but also the pragmatism and ability to engage effectively with witnesses/clients – he is very personable. He is also responsive, flexible and provides valuable assistance during the preparation of claims, even when he is engaged in other matters.” (2021)
• “Clear in his advice, well-organised and inspires confidence in his clients and is appropriately assertive in his advocacy.” (2019)
• “He quickly builds a rapport with clients and puts them at ease.” (2018)
• "He is technically very able and extremely user-friendly" (2017)
• "always gets the job done and is able to deal with full range of employment matters, however complex." (2016)
• "incredibly easy to work with, amazingly organised and good at building a strong rapport with clients very quickly" (2015)
• "clients like his down-to-earth and commercial approach" (2014).

Solicitor Comments

Comments from instructing solicitors include:

“Michael is a pleasure to work with and excellent with clients. He handles detail well, is pragmatic, personable and very responsive and is always my first choice.” 

Instructing Solicitor 2013 to date

“Michael is fantastic to work with – incredibly responsive, thorough and helpful.  When his technical legal skills are combined with his down-to-earth and commercial approach, he is an invaluable asset on any matter.”

Instructing Solicitor from 2013 to date.

"I have but one hesitation in recommending Michael Salter. It is that other solicitors will start to use him and I’ll not be able to instruct or brief him as freely as I do now. Michael is amongst the most capable barristers, in any field, that I work with. He is user-friendly, extremely knowledgeable and pro-active. If he is instructed you know that he will be perfectly prepared and will arrive with skeleton arguments, case summaries and any homework the solicitor may have overlooked. He is much respected by lay clients too and his easy-going but thorough style is appreciated by the judges he appears before, although hardly surprising by virtue of the fact that Michael sits himself. His fees are very reasonable and his accessibility by phone and email makes it so easy to work with him. A thoroughly excellent barrister"

Instructing Solicitor from 2009 to date

Appointments:

• Bar Standards Board Independent Decision-Making Body member (2019-)
• Sports Resolutions: Discipline and Integrity and Discrimination and Equality Panels Adjudicator (2018-)
• Bar Standards Board Professional Conduct Committee member (2018-2019)
• Examiner of the Court (2017-)
• Deputy Chair of the Jersey Employment and Discrimination Tribunal (2017-)
• Legally Qualified Chair of Police Disciplinary Tribunals (2015-)
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants: Disciplinary Assessor (2015-2020)
• Fee Paid Judge of the Employment Tribunals (2013-)
• University of Law (London and Birmingham): External examiner for Bar Professional Training Course modules Civil Litigation, Drafting and International Commercial Practice (2013-2016)
• Employment Law Appeal Advice Scheme member (2013-)
• Visiting Fellow University of Bedfordshire (2011-)
• Council of the Inns of Court (2009-2012) Barrister member of disciplinary panels
• City Law School: External examiner for Bar Vocational Course for Drafting and Employment Law courses (2008-2012)
• Pupil Supervisor (2008-)
• Inner Temple Student Mentor (2007-)
• Kings College London: visiting lecturer in Evidence (2005)

Memberships:

• Employment Lawyers Association
• Employment Law Bar Association
• Public Access Bar Association
• Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers
• Council of Employment Judges
• National Association of Legally Qualified Chairs: member and regional representative
• Associate of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, ACIArb

BCL Brasenose College, Oxford.

Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of law, Very Competent.

LLB (Hons) Law, First Class with Honours, Brunel University.

Seminars

I have presented numerous seminars and training events as part of Chambers' seminar programme or at the request of solicitors firms. A selection of these are set out below:

• Agency Workers ;
• Costs;
• Equality Act for Service Providers;
• Workplace Harassment;
• Mandatory Conciliation and Financial Penalties ;
• Employment Law issues in Personal Injury Litigation;

I have also presented in house training sessions to employment law firms on:

• best practice in preliminary hearings in the Employment Tribunal;
• how to maximise your prospects of successfully arguing Polkey;
• drafting witness statements; and
• various seminars focusing on developments in specific areas of law

Webinars

A few of the webinars I have presented are set out below, all were produced by CLT.

• "Vicarious Liability" considering new and upcoming case law on this area;
• "Social Media and Employment Law" looking at how Social Media impact employment law including allegations of misconduct, post termination restrictions and the need for policies.
• "Costs in the Employment Tribunal" (2015): looking at costs, wasted costs and fee recovery.
• "Damages in Contract Law Explained" what is the most appropriate basis for assessing contractual damages?
• "Caste Discrimination": looking at this controversial area of law.
• "Holiday pay: wish you were here?" : bringing together the recent case law.
• "Instructing and working with counsel: a guide for junior lawyers": tips and tricks for working with counsel
• "Settlement and Compromising Employment Tribunal Claims"
• "Appeals to the EAT and Court of Appeal"
• "Disclosure in the Employment Tribunal"
• "Costs in the Employment Tribunal" (2014)
• "Mounting a Defence in the Employment Tribunal"
• "Running and Employment Tribunal Claim"

Books

I have published a book on social media and the law (Jordans 2015), am a contributing author to a textbook on costs; and have a textbook on employment law being published by the Law Society in 2021.

Chambers Employment Law Newsletters

Here are some of the Chambers newsletters in which articles written by me have been published:

• Spring 2020: on covert recording of meetings;
• Summer 2019: on social media and professional misconduct;
• Summer 2018: a 5 minutes with...;
• Spring 2017: on Early Neutral Evaluation, and how will it work;
• Spring 2016: on an employer's rights to "snoop" on employees emails.

New Law Journal

Here are a few articles written by me and my regular writing partner Chris Bryden:

• "Third Party Pieces" a look at vicarious liability.
• "Decision Time" looking at the searchable employment tribunal database.
• "Becoming Anti-Social (Part 2)": looking at what the recent European Court of Human Rights decision on employer's rights to "snoop" into their employees emails actually means.
• "Becoming Anti-Social (Part 1)": the risk of social media misuse by regulated professionals is looked at here
• "An Own E-Goal": another gross misconduct dismissal for social media misuse.
• "A Little Bird Told Me": whether dismissal for twitter comments was fair.
• "About Time": looking at the application of Mitchell v NGN in the employment tribunal.
• "A Weighty Issue": is obesity a disability?
• "Executive Decisions": considering the new Presidential Guidance in Employment Tribunals.
• "Back and Forth": looking at some key developments and predicting the future.
• "Appealing Option": the law on naming respondents in discrimination claims.
• "Beware of the Web": practical guidance on Social Media policies in the workplace.
• "No Hard Feelings": the Employment Appeal Tribunal provides more guidance on harassment claims.
• "Damage Limitation": what can employers do to reduce the risk of litigation arising when their employees misuse social media?
• "Drawing the Line": a review of the laws that seek to prevent sexual harassment
• "A High Hurdle": the limitations of claims to protect privacy brought under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
• "An Unsatisfactory State of Affairs": considering the effect of the EAT's decision in Brennan on the apportionment of damages in discrimination claims. Part 2 of this article "Early Bird" was also published.
• "Recovery Position", reviewing Employment Appeal Tribunal case law on costs recovery and a discussion of the tactical questions the case law raises.
• "Strictly Liable": the law of vicarious liability after Weddall.
• "An Alternative Route": is there a way for an employee to claim injury to feelings when they have been unfairly dismissed.
• "All Change?" a look ahead to the Employment Law year.
• "The Social Network": the impact of social media in the workplace.
• "Deciphering the Code": Appeal Tribunal guidance on the ACAS Code.
• "Gone but not Forgotten": when will an ex-employer be liable for the comments made by an ex-employee?
• "Moving forward": a look at employment law reform.
• "Safeguard or Straightjacket": is TUPE 2006 a help or a hindrance to business?
• "Contentious Third Parties": when can an employer be liable for harassment caused by a non-employee?
• "Unhappy New Year" a rebuke to criticisms of the tribunal system.
• "A Fine Balance": A reminder of the dangers of office gossip.
• "Risky Business": how should employers deal with accusations of criminal conduct by their employees?

Other Publications

"Reputational Risk for Social media misuse": Internet Newsletter for Lawyers: looking at the risk of reputational damage by inappropriate use of social media