Experience
I mainly advise commercial, social enterprise and charity employer clients on employment law issues. I can help with most aspects of the employment relationship from recruitment right through to termination and beyond.
I often advise about general employee-related issues such as statutory and contractual rights and obligations especially when there’s a dispute, undertaking disciplinary and grievance processes, and managing employee exits.
I enjoy helping with implementing restructures and redundancies, as well as other types of large-scale consultation exercises.
A lot of the work I do involves advising businesses about the employment issues that crop up when they’ve won (or lost) a service contract, or when they’re thinking of acquiring another business, merging or disposing of part of their operations.
But my clients also ask me about a whole range of other things besides employment law. They may just want to run something past me as a ‘sense check’. But even if it’s a specialist query and I don’t know the answer myself, I’ll probably know which of my colleagues to put them in touch with instead.
- I’ve advised a housing group on handling complex grievance and capability issues relating to an underperforming senior employee
- I’ve advised a large care provider on implementing substantial changes to its staff pension arrangements and terms of employment across its whole workforce
- I’ve advised a college on the best way to handle a complex consultation exercise involving a TUPE transfer and collective redundancies resulting from the proposed restructure of several teams
- I’ve advised a national disability charity on undertaking pre-transfer collective redundancy consultation relating to its merger with another disability charity
- I’ve advised a social development company on exiting a very senior employee, negotiating terms of departure and drafting associated contractual documentation
- I’ve advised a number of council services on ‘spinning out’ and becoming independent legal entities, often involving large numbers of transferring employees
- I’ve advised overseas employers engaging individuals working in the UK and UK employers engaging individuals to work overseas
- I’ve advised an international charity about staff transfer issues involving multiple overseas jurisdictions
- I’ve successfully conducted lots of employment tribunal cases, including defending a large healthcare provider at a multi-day tribunal hearing against allegations of whistleblowing, unfair dismissal, and race, sexual orientation and disability discrimination
Area of expertise:
Qualifications and career
- I qualified as a solicitor in 2001
- I joined Bates Wells in 2004
- In 2018 I was appointed by the High Court as a Supervising Solicitor
Pro bono, memberships, and appointments
- Previously a volunteer adviser at a Citizens' Advice Bureau and at Blackfriars Law Centre
- Member of the Employment Lawyers Association and the Industrial Law Society
- Member of the Industrial Law Society
- I am interested in environmental issues and a member of Bates Wells’ Environment group
Insights
