Chambers would like to congratulate Chris Kennedy KC, Brian McCluggage and Jennifer Ferrario who have all been included in the...
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Overview
Jennifer qualified as a Solicitor in 1996 and upon becoming a Solicitor Advocate appeared in jury trials, before Police misconduct tribunals and upon transferring to the Bar in 2007 extended her practice to encompass employment law. Jennifer was Legal Counsel for the Environment Agency and Greater Manchester police 2003 -2017 where she conducted complex cases, advised on policies and procedures and sat on mental health, human rights and hate crime committees. Upon joining Chambers in 2017, Jennifer brought over 20 years’ experience of working directly with clients and this is reflected in the quality service that she provides, her prompt turnaround of work and all round management of expectation.
Jennifer is our Champion for Pro Bono work and always has conduct of at least one pro bono case at any one time and has a particular interest in representing the more vulnerable in discrimination cases. Jennifer is also a mentor to the more junior members of Chambers in Professional Misconduct and a Panel Mentor for the Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers.
Regulatory and Professional Discipline
Jennifer Ferrario qualified as a litigation solicitor in 1996 and practised in employment, crime and regulatory law. She became a higher rights advocate two years following qualification and transferred to the Bar in 2007 whilst General Counsel at The Environment Agency. From 1998 – 2006 Jennifer sat as a lay member of a Mental Health Tribunal for a Greater Manchester NHS Trust and from 2003 to 2017 worked as in house Counsel for The Environment Agency and Greater Manchester Police. During her time as in house Counsel, Jennifer Ferrario became proficient in regulatory matters and was often called upon by external agencies including the Health & Safety Executive, Trading Standards Institute, Highways agency and DEFRA to advise on a variety of matters and to conduct their jury trials.
Since 1998 Jennifer has been presenting professional misconduct proceedings and over the years has led the way with many issues including the admissibility of evidence, abuse of process, hearsay, disclosure and recusal. In March 2017 upon joining the self-employed Bar, Jennifer immediately received instructions from police services in matters of misconduct and general regulatory.
During her time in Chambers Jennifer has developed her professional misconduct practice and is regularly instructed by several professional regulators. She has earned herself a reputation with regulators, instructing Solicitors and professional clients for navigating her way through complex evidential matters in a methodical and measured manner in order to reach a fair outcome. Jennifer mentors the younger members of Chambers in all areas of professional misconduct and as Head of our Police Misconduct team works closely with members of the team to ensure that Chambers delivers a high quality service. Jennifer sits as a Legally Qualified Chair in police misconduct cases.
Professional Misconduct
General Medical Council: Jennifer is a member of the GMC Panel of Approved Counsel and has been presenting cases for the GMC before the Medical Practitioner’s Tribunal Service since July 2017 ranging from allegations of prescribing incorrect medicines to serious sexual assault. Earlier this year, Jennifer presented a case involving over 50 allegations of dishonest conduct which upon being found proven, resulted in the doctor being erased from the register.
Police Misconduct Proceedings: Since 1998 Jennifer has regularly appeared in police misconduct proceedings for both police services and police officers. Since joining Chambers she has been instructed to appear before Police Misconduct Tribunals in a variety of cases including assault, dishonesty, sexual assaults and unlawful disclosure of highly sensitive material.
Social Work England: Jennifer has recently spent time in a national law firm presenting complex cases before Social Work England fitness to practice panels including cases of serious professional incompetence and rape. Jennifer continues to advise on, draft allegations for and present these cases on a wide ranging spectrum of conduct including bullying, serious dishonesty and professional incompetency.
Professional Misconduct: Since joining Chambers Jennifer Ferrario has represented members of various professions in internal disciplinary investigations, meetings and hearings. When Jennifer recently represented a Head teacher before an appeals misconduct panel following a finding of gross misconduct, the finding was overturned and the client returned to work Jennifer received the following message from the client: ‘Thank you so much for your support, professionalism and guidance. I will be eternally grateful to you for your hard work on my behalf.’ (MF). Currently Jennifer represents a Psychologist, Radiologist, junior Doctor and a Veterinary Surgeon in misconduct proceedings.
Inquests
Jennifer has been involved in Inquests since 1998 when she was working as a Solicitor with the Police Federation. Jennifer continued in this field when she transferred to the Bar and whilst in House Counsel for Greater Manchester Police (2012 – 2017) represented the police in numerous inquests. Upon joining Chambers, Jennifer has represented public and private organisations and families in inquests proceedings including article 2 and jury proceedings.
General Regulatory
Interviewing and Reporting: Since joining Chambers Jennifer has assisted organisations with interviewing and reporting on staff involved in alleged regulatory non-compliance and or criminal matters. An example is a recent instruction by The Reserve Forces & Cadets Association to interview 2 recruits regarding a physical assault allegation and to provide a report advising on potential misconduct.
SEND Tribunals: Jennifer has appeared before Tribunals in a variety of jurisdictions including 1st and 2nd Tier since 1998. Most recently since joining Chambers she has presented cases for Local Authorities in appeal hearings, working closely with Senior Educational Psychologists and Head Teachers. In a recent case the Senior Educational Psychologist (CW) had this to say ‘Having worked with Jennifer in a SEND appeal I was very impressed with her thorough preparation and knowledge of the case and especially with the careful yet robust approach that she used when she questioned the appellant witnesses. She had a style that was just right for getting the answers from witnesses that were helpful to our case. I would highly recommend her.’
Data Breach
Jennifer has considerable experience in representing parties in breach of data cases, including breaches of the Data Protection Act, confidential information and the misuse of private information. Jennifer is well versed in the tests to be applied, the available defences to a breach including statutory duty and the remedies available to those affected. The majority of Jennifer’s work in this area arose during her time as In House Counsel for Greater Manchester Police and she is regularly instructed since joining Chambers in representing local authorities in these cases.
Employment
Jennifer Ferrario was General Counsel during 2003-2017 for The Environment Agency and for Greater Manchester Police where she was involved in matters of employment law including unfair dismissal, whistle blowing, breach of contract, discrimination and pensions entitlement. Jennifer collaborated on a number of projects with the Human Resources departments and provided advice on matters of employment law to senior personnel.
Upon joining Chambers in the summer of 2017 Jennifer immediately received instructions in employment and regulatory matters. Having appeared before tribunals since 1998, Jennifer has extensive experience in understanding the style of advocacy that is more favoured by a tribunal Judge and her experience is invaluable to the employment tribunal jurisdiction.
Since joining Chambers and conducting employment matters, Jennifer has been invited to deliver training sessions to her client’s employees both in the HR departments and to lay managers and to act as grievance & disciplinary Chair. Training sessions include ‘How to Conduct a Fair Disciplinary Investigation’ and ‘How to conduct a fair Redundancy Consultation.’ Jennifer has also revised and developed internal HR policies for corporate clients including redundancy, grievance and disciplinary policies.
Jennifer’s professional misconduct and regulatory practice complements her employment work.
Current cases include:
Representing an NHS Trust respondent in a 12 day final hearing involving 22 allegations of disability discrimination where the claimant is a litigant in person and has significant debilitating disabilities (2025)
Representing a claimant police officer in a sex discrimination case solely in relation to being suspended from work pending a misconduct investigation (2025).
PR v GT (2024) – Representing the Claimant on a direct access basis in a claim for whistleblowing and detriment (dismissal). The Respondent is a large corporate organisation and is denying that the Claimant was a worker as defined by the Employment Rights Act. Involves protected disclosures relating to health and safety and the case is attracting significant press attention.
LSP v IV (2024) – Representing the Claimant on a direct access basis in a claim for sex and race discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal. Claimant has experienced significant mental health illness as a result of the treatment towards him and is claiming that he will be unable to work at the same senior level at any time in the future.
CF v TR (2024) – Representing the respondent company in a disability and harassment claim involving sensitive issues as the parties were in a personal relationship. Listed for a 5 day hearing in Bristol.
Appointments
Legal Adviser to the General Optical Council (2023 to date)
Legally Advisor to the Police Misconduct Panel (East Midlands and South East England regions) (2023 to date)
Legally Qualified Chair for the General Pharmaceutical Council, fitness to practise hearings (2024 to date)
Independent member of the Parole Board for England & Wales (2024 to date)
Panel Member of Advocate (Pro Bono Organisation)
Accredited Mediator for Commercial, Civil & Workplace disputes
Associations
Employment Lawyers Association
Women in the Law UK
Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers
Mental Health Advocates
Education
LLB (Hons), Manchester Metropolitan University
LLM (Law), Cardiff University
Prescribed Information
Ms Jennifer Ferrario is a practising barrister who is regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Details of information held by the BSB about Ms Jennifer Ferrario can be found here.
Ms Jennifer Ferrario’s clerks will happily provide no obligation quotations for all legal services that she provides. Their contact details can be found here. It is most common for Ms Jennifer Ferrario to undertake Employment and Regulatory both court and advice work for either a fixed fee or a brief fee plus refresher days. Advisory work on paper or in conference is usually charged at an hourly rate although fixed fees are available. Ms Jennifer Ferrario will typically return paperwork within 7-10 days however professional commitments, complexity and volume of documentation can affect these approximate timescales.
Ms Jennifer Ferrario also undertakes Direct Access work. This work is undertaken on a contractual basis, as agreed between the client and Ms Jennifer Ferrario’s clerks. This is on fixed fee basis for a specific events such as a conference, advisory work, a hearing with additional hearing days (refreshers) or the drafting of specific documents. All work agreed to be undertaken by Ms Jennifer Ferrario with the fixed fee cost will be clearly outlined in the direct access contract signed by the client and will be payable in full prior to the commencement of the work.
