Anna Greenley

Anna is an accomplished advocate specialising in employment and partnership law and commercial litigation. She is known for being proactive, tenacious, and thorough, taking a commercial and strategic approach that is highly valued by her clients.

Employment, Regulatory and Partnership Law

Appearing in high value/complex litigation at first instance and on appeal, Anna practises across the full spectrum of employment and partnership law. This includes business protection (restrictive covenants, team moves, confidential information), senior executive remuneration, whistleblowing, equal pay, industrial relations, TUPE, discrimination, and partnership disputes. She also has considerable experience in regulatory matters and professional discipline, drawing on her background in financial services.

Building upon her extensive, professional experience prior to coming to the Bar, she is particularly sought after by financial and professional services clients, those in the technology and defence sectors and for cases with a cross-border, international and/or regulatory angle.

Anna has a busy civil court employment practice, regularly acting for employers and employees in High Court breach of contract claims, including wrongful dismissal, executive remuneration and in business protection litigation in respect of restrictive covenants, breach of fiduciary duties and confidential information.

Anna regularly conducts both employment and regulatory investigations and provides representation at a range of professional disciplinary tribunals. She was recently instructed in the Carr Review of the Royal College of Nursing and has conducted a number of high profile and sensitive investigations involving the alleged gross misconduct of senior executives.

Anna is a member of the ELA City Regulation Standing Committee, the Association of Partnership Practitioners, International Forum of Senior Executive Advisors, and the Employment Law Bar Association.

Commercial Litigation

Regularly appearing in a broad range of commercial matters both in the civil courts and in arbitration, Anna’s practice centres on contractual disputes, insurance/reinsurance, partnership matters, directors’ duties, and economic torts. She is currently instructed in the High Court as junior to Andrew Burns KC in relation to a high value commercial dispute/professional negligence matter concerning the transfer of intellectual property rights.

Anna brings the prior experience she has gained as a strategy consultant advising corporate clients on commercial strategy, procurement and restructuring and the benefit of strong grounding in financial analysis, accounting and financial regulation gained working for a major hedge fund and two of the Big 4 professional services firms.

Anna’s insurance/reinsurance practice spans the full range of industry sectors and includes claims in relation to COVID-19 losses. For example, she is currently instructed in two reinsurance arbitrations in relation to business interruption losses relating to the pandemic and has particular experience advising on and running arguments relating to the duty of fair presentation and aggregation.  

Anna is a member of COMBAR, BILA and PNBA.

Prior Experience

Before practising at the Bar, Anna had an extensive career spanning the private and public sectors. As a former director and senior leader, she understands the commercial realities faced by her clients and the need to situate the legal approach within the wider corporate context. Having worked closely with media outlets and communications departments throughout her career, she is able to ensure an aligned and strategic approach to reputation management.

Anna’s previous roles include as Chief of Staff to a major new hedge fund as it underwent regulation by the FCA and the management of strategy and communications consulting engagements for one of the Big 4.

During Anna’s ten years working for the government she performed a range of senior roles including as Private Secretary/Chief of Staff to two Defence Ministers and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, leading negotiations at the UN and EU for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and supporting military operations in Afghanistan.

• Recommendations

  "Anna is calm, pragmatic and confident. She is able to cut through complex issues and make them appear simple. She has a very pleasant manner and is easy to work with." - Employment, Chambers UK 2025

  "Anna delivers excellent concise advice and truly understands our business and needs as a client." - Employment, Chambers UK 2025

  "I feel entirely reassured when Anna is enlisted to support us and our clients." - Employment, Chambers UK 2025

  "A junior who stands out for her analytical skills, her tenacity, proactivity, work ethic and ability to win over clients, judges and instructing solicitors. She is highly persuasive." - Employment, legal 500 2025

  ‘‘Anna is clear, concise and confident in her advocacy, and we really value her responsiveness and understanding of her clients' businesses.’’- Chambers UK Bar 2024

  ‘‘Anna is technically excellent but also user friendly and commercial in front of clients’’ - Employment, Chambers UK Bar 2024

  ‘‘A very experienced junior with a good work ethic. She is a skillful cross-examiner.’’ - Employment, Legal 500 2024

  ‘‘Anna has an incredible grasp of the law and always provides advice of the highest standard. Anna's advocacy skills are particularly impressive, as she is able to communicate her arguments succinctly and eloquently, resulting in positive outcomes’’ - Employment, Legal 500 2023

  ‘‘We trust Anna’s judgement implicitly and can rely on her to advise on whether an issue is worth pursuing and she always considers the longer-term strategy. We deploy Anna in all of our employment matters due to the quality of her advocacy and communication skills. She is always meticulously prepared, has good structure and ensures that the litigation flows’’ - In-house Counsel, major luxury retailer

• Employment

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  Anna has a substantial and busy employment and partnership law practice, appearing at all stages of proceedings in the tribunal, EAT and civil courts. She is an excellent strategist and tactician, and her prior experience as a director and senior leader across a range of industries means that she can quickly understand the context and commercial realities within which her clients operate.   

  Anna's practice spans the full range of employment work and partnership work including whistleblowing (including applications for interim relief), equal pay, TUPE, breach of contract, remuneration (particularly in respect of senior executives), discrimination and business protection. 

  Regularly instructed to advise on business protection matters, Anna can quickly advise on the first steps that need to be taken to secure her client’s interests and then advise on the right strategy to take to secure interim and final relief, as appropriate, in the courts. Recent instructions have included confidential information (seeking injunctive relief, document orders and breach of contract actions), team moves and restrictive covenants/competitive activity.   

  A significant part of Anna’s practice is advising on matters relating to executive remuneration and she has experience of both bringing and defending bonus and wrongful dismissal cases in the High Court and related unfair prejudice issues.

  She is also regularly asked to advise on a range of partnership disputes including expulsion, disciplinary and can draw on her prior professional experience to provide pragmatic and commercial advice that safeguards the relationship wherever possible.

  Anna has significant experience of conducting investigations with recent experience in the financial services, energy, hospitality, healthcare, defence and FMCG sectors. She is particularly sought after for sensitive conduct allegations against senior executives and allegations of fraud. Drawing upon her prior experience within the financial services sector, Anna regularly conducts regulatory investigations or those employment investigations with a regulatory angle.

  She can also advise on the personal injury aspects of employment disputes including choice of forum and the merits of bringing a claim in the civil courts. She also has experience of the detailed assessment of costs in both the civil courts and tribunal.

  Recent cases include:

  • Advising the Defendants to a multi million pound breach of contract claim in the High Court
  • Advising and litigating a number of breach of restrictive covenants cases
  • Successfully defending an application for interim relief in respect of trade union activities;
  • Advising a multi national financial services institute on the discretionary payment of bonuses;
  • Acting for a senior financial services executive in respect of unpaid commission payments in the High Court;
  • Advising a NDPB on large scale pay reforms and related equal pay issues;
  • Acting for a senior financial services executive in respect of his entitlement to LTIP and bonus upon redundancy;
  • Acting for the respondent in a High Court; injunctive relief matter relating to the enforcement of post-termination restrictions;
  • Advising on the prospects of establishing that a bonus and enhanced redundancy package were owed to a C-suite executive at a major bank;
  • Advising on territoriality in respect of a senior investment banker assigned to the New York office;
  • Representing R1 in a victimisation claim against eight investment banks/brokers;
  • Acting for a claimant in a potential career loss case against a major professional services firm;
  • Successfully resisting an application for interim relief for a major luxury retailer, major telecoms provider and investment bank;
  • Instructed to advise in relation to stigma loss and remedy in a high value whistleblowing matter;
  • Advising a major national organisation on the CJRS and its implication on concurrent Union negotiations;
  • Acting for the Defendant in a civil breach of contract claim for arrears of annual leave allowances - the claim was discontinued after pleading the defence;
  • Acting for the Claimant, the General Counsel of a multinational media company, in a high value whistleblowing claim raising complex jurisdictional and conflict of laws issues;
  • Acting for the Claimant, a senior manager at a major UK newspaper, in a claim for equal pay, constructive unfair dismissal, discrimination and dismissal following a disputed TUPE transfer;
  • Instructed by a large London university in a complex discrimination and breach of contract case;
  • Acting for a large 5* London hotel in a constructive unfair dismissal claim and series of redundancy claims;
  • Advising a national property and financial services company in a wide variety of employment matters including breach of contract, negligent misstatement, unfair dismissal and injunctive proceedings;
  • Investigation into whistleblowing allegations at a multinational financial services institution;
  • Junior to Andrew Burns KC in a dispute over working patterns by the employees of a major airline;
  • Advising on the taxation of a multi-million pound settlement.

  Anna is a contributor to the most recent edition of Discrimination Law.

  She is a member of ELBA and ELA and a member of the ELA City Regulation Standing Committee.

• Commercial Litigation and Disputes

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  Anna has a busy commercial litigation practice which covers the full range of disputes including breach of contract, civil fraud, injunctive relief, and insurance/reinsurance. In advising her clients, she can draw upon her extensive advisory background as a corporate and commercial strategy consultant and regulatory experience working for a major hedge fund, to find practical and pragmatic solutions. Her clients particularly value her strategic approach and ability to distil complex arguments into cogent submissions. 

  She is currently junior to Andrew Burns KC in a high value civil fraud/professional negligence claim against a firm of trade mark attorneys in respect of the transfer of business rights. 

  Anna also has an extensive practice spanning the crossover between employment and commercial law including in relation to business protection, unfair prejudice petitions and breach of contract.

  Other recent instructions include a range of High Court breach of contract claims in relation to the supply of goods and services, applications for injunctive relief and an action brought under Part XXV of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

  Further details of her insurance practice appear under that heading but current instructions include as junior to Andrew Burns KC in several COVID-19/business interruption reinsurance arbitrations and advising on a range of coverage issues, aggregation, and avoidance cases.

  Anna is a member of COMBAR, BILA, the International Forum of Senior Executive Advisors and Association of Partnership Practitioners.

• Professional Negligence

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  Anna accepts instructions in professional negligence matters with a focus on claims brought against solicitors and barristers.

  Recent instructions include:

  • Acting for the claimant in respect of a claim in the High Court against counsel and solicitors for the under-settlement of employment tribunal proceedings.
  • Junior to Andrew Burns KC in a high value civil fraud/professional negligence claim against a firm of patent attorneys/solicitors in respect of the transfer of business rights.
  • Advising a financial services institution on a professional negligence claim against its solicitors in respect of a commercial property transaction.
  • Acting against a firm of solicitors in respect of the lost opportunity to litigate a high value discrimination claim.

  Anna is a member of the Professional Negligence Bar Association.

• Regulatory & Professional Discipline

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  Drawing upon her background in financial services, Anna advises across the full range of conduct and remuneration issues including those related to Brexit, the SMCR and regulatory references. Further, her extensive employment practice allows her to work seamlessly across both disciplines and she regularly advises on matters relating to professional conduct and discipline including providing representation at tribunal hearings.

  Anna regularly carries out investigations for regulated firms and her experience working in the industry allows her to quickly grasp not only the technical issues involved but the wider context of the operating environment.

  Recent work includes advising a major hedge fund on the regulatory implications of bringing its European branch employees onto the UK payroll, an action under Part XXV of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and conducting a regulatory investigation into the General Manager of a major credit union.

  She is a member of the ELA City Regulation Standing Committee.

• Investigations

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  Anna has considerable experience of conducting both employment and regulatory investigations with particular experience in the financial and professional services sectors.

  Having advised Boards and Ministers in her former career, she understands the importance of an organised, thorough, and practical approach and her significant experience prior to practising at the Bar enables her to quickly understand the organisational context particularly at a senior executive level.

  Anna was instructed as junior to Bruce Carr KC in the Carr Review of the Royal College of Nursing. 

  Recent instructions include:

  • Allegations of sexual misconduct against a senior executive.
  • The investigation of a senior individual subject to the SMCR who raised issues of whistleblowing and discrimination following their dismissal. 
  • A regulatory investigation into the conduct a former CEO of a financial services firm.
  • An investigation into allegations of misconduct against a senior investment professional.

  Anna is a member of the ELA City Regulation Standing Committee.

• Insurance & Reinsurance

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  Anna has a busy insurance and reinsurance practice acting for both parties across all industry sectors. She has particular experience of issues relating to the duty of fair presentation and aggregation.

  She is currently instructed as junior to Andrew Burns KC in several COVID-19/business interruption reinsurance arbitrations.

  Other recent cases include a complex advisory matter concerning a legal expenses policy, a professional negligence claim against a chartered accountant and litigation associated with a high-value insurance claim following a fatal accident at work.

  She is a contributing author for Lexi PSL Insurance and a member of BILA.

• Education

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  Anna has particular experience of breach of contract and discrimination matters in an education context having acted for a number of higher education providers and colleges in both the Employment Tribunal and civil courts.

  For example, she was recently successful at trial in resisting a claim against a University for a failure to make reasonable adjustments during its admissions procedure and in a breach of contract claim against another University, the Claimant having discontinued proceedings after her pleaded defence was served. 

  She is currently instructed in a pregnancy discrimination case against an Academy and in a race discrimination case against a university, both in the Employment Tribunal. 

  Anna is a contributing author to the current edition of Discrimination Law published by Bloomsbury Professional.