Rachel is an advocate in the Isle of Man team with specialist focus on employment, immigration and dispute resolution. She has assisted with the employment aspects of a number of acquisitions and reorganisations in the Isle of Man, carrying out reviews of employment contracts and advising prospective purchasers of their obligations towards the employees. On the contentious side, Rachel advises both employers and employees on their disputes, has helped negotiate settlements and when a solution couldn’t be reached, appeared before the employment tribunal. Rachel has also assisted a number of clients with their personal visa applications and applications for their employees.
Outside of the employment arena, Rachel has a broad litigation experience, having acted in general commercial litigation, insolvency matters, trust disputes and personal injury claims.
Expertise
- Unfair dismissal
- Discrimination
- Protected disclosures
- Contracts of employment and consultancy agreements
- Settlement agreements
- Immigration
- Commercial litigation
- Trust litigation
Experience
Employment and Immigration
- Acted for a local company before the employment tribunal where a key issue was whether the individual in question was an employee or a consultant.
- Acted for a local employer who needed to dismiss their managing director over suspected breaches of confidentiality.
- Acted for an executive director and majority shareholder who had been unlawfully dismissed by the company.
- Provided advice to a local company on the impact of the Equality Act on their pension scheme.
- Successfully applied for an Innovator visa for an applicant from India and a dependent visa for her husband and her daughter.
- Assisted a multinational company with the redundancy process when they very suddenly had to close down their Isle of Man office.
- Advised a company who had dismissed an employee for gross misconduct following a fraud.
- Acts for a number of local employers and provides ad hoc employment advice on matters as they arise.
Commercial/Trust Ligation
- Acted for a large class of claimants in a high-value claim against local life insurance companies.
- Acted for a settlor/beneficiary in relation to a claim against the trustee for improperly forming the trust and breach of statutory duties.
- Successfully sought a letter of request from the Isle of Man court asking that the English court places the Isle of Man companies into administration in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.
- Assisted with a claim where the impact of various agreements and an arbitration award on the priority of payments in the liquidation of an Isle of Man company had to be considered.
- Advised a potential claimant on a claim against a building company and assisted in obtaining compensation from the NHBC.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised by The Legal 500 2025 as Recommended for Isle of Man: Dispute Resolution
Recognised in Chambers UK for Offshore: Employment (2022-2024)
“Rachel has good depth and breadth of knowledge and advises well from a pragmatic and commercial point of view, which is very valuable.” Chambers UK 2024
Recognised as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 for Isle of Man: Employment (2020-2025)
“Rachel Berry took time out to visit us in person in between pressing engagements to ensure we met our deadline for resolution.” The Legal 500 2023
“Rachel Berry was extremely helpful. She went out of her way to assist even to the extent of helping out of hours or when she was on leave. Her knowledge of the law was solid, as was the advice she gave. She was honest in her assessment of our case and gave us a true picture of the likely outcome.” The Legal 500 2022
Recognised by the Legal 500 2020 for Isle of Man: Dispute Resolution
Recognised Practitioner for Offshore: Employment in Chambers UK 2019
Recognised by the Legal 500 2018 for Isle of Man: Dispute Resolution and Isle of Man: Employment
Rachel Berry is recognised by the Legal 500 2017 for Dispute Resolution and Employment
Rachel is recommended in tier 1 of the Legal 500 for Employment Law
Career
Rachel qualified as a solicitor in 2007. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2016, she worked at Appleby.