Rachel is an advocate in the Isle of Man team with specialist focus on employment 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 has advised both employers and employees on their disputes, has helped negotiate settlements, drafted compromise agreements and, when a solution could not be reached, appeared before the employment tribunal.
Outside of the employment arena Rachel has a broad litigation experience, having acted in a number of high-value personal injury claims (mostly defendant insurer work), complicated will disputes, and insolvency matters.
Expertise
- Unfair dismissal
- Contracts of employment and consultancy agreements
- Compromise agreements
- Employment tribunal claims
- Commercial litigation
- Personal injury
- Construction disputes
- Will and estate disputes
- Inheritance Act claims
Experience
- Bringing a successful claim for unfair dismissal before the employment tribunal in a case involving an unfair dismissal procedure and allegations of breach of confidentiality, establishing that it was a breach of the rules of natural justice for the employee to face a disciplinary hearing when improper details of the allegations against them had been provided.
- Settling a complicated claim for family provision brought under the Inheritance Act by way of mediation, an unusual claim brought by an adult who claimed to be dependent upon their parent, a tax consultant who left behind a complicated estate with assets in a number of jurisdictions.
- Successfully claiming damages in a very technical dispute regarding the construction of water treatment works in the Isle of Man, with the claim determined by way of arbitration. The case involved drastically opposed expert evidence regarding the properties of various metals and how they reacted to changes in temperature in order to establish the cause of a crack and the resulting damage.
- Advising regarding a number of company reorganisations, redundancy issues and compromise agreements.
- Settling a number of high-value personal injury claims involving serious injuries and clinical negligence.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised in Chambers UK (2022-2023) for Offshore: Employment
Recognised as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 2023 for Isle of Man: Employment
“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
Recognised as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 2022 for Isle of Man: Employment
“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 2021 for Isle of Man: Employment
Recognised by the Legal 500 2020 for Isle of Man: Dispute Resolution and Isle of Man: Employment
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.