About

I'm a Partner in our Employment, Immigration and Reward team, based with the rest of the fantastic team in Belfast. Being qualified in England & Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, I provide cross jurisdiction and comparative law advice to clients throughout the UK and Ireland, bringing a bit of Belfast craic with me.

I advise clients on contentious and non-contentious matters, including HR support, mergers & acquisitions, restructuring, executive management, performance management, TUPE, outsourcing, discrimination law, and a full range of employment litigation.

I advise across a range of sectors including hospitality, retail, manufacturing, pharma, technology, financial services, education and public bodies.

So, I don't look like a typical lawyer...eh? Well, perhaps because prior to training as a lawyer I had more than a decade of experience working in HR management roles across sectors covering retail, construction, manufacturing and logistics. I am a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, as well as Visiting Professor to the school of law at Ulster University.

Experience

Strategic HR support

  • Helping businesses navigate through all aspects of HR and employment law - from recruitment, organisational development, performance management, succession planning, grievances & disciplines, through to reorganisations and dismissals - to meet their business objectives
  • Steering clients through complex internal disputes, including dealing with persistent and long-term absences, capability issues, misconduct, breaches of contract and whistleblowing
  • Advising on senior executive employment matters, including negotiating service agreements & contracts, incentive schemes, performance & conduct and senior exits
  • Advising on collective labour law, including requests for Trade Union recognition, collective bargaining, balloting and strikes

Employment litigation

  • Managing a full range of employment litigation, from first stage Tribunal or WRC through to the higher appeal courts, including straight-forward statutory claims (unfair dismissal, unlawful deductions etc) through to complex discrimination and whistleblowing cases
  • Advising on Civil Court cases for breach of contract, injunctions and enforcement of post-termination restrictions
  • Negotiating settlements and managing Alternative Dispute Resolution procedures, including conciliation, mediation and arbitration, to avoid litigation

Employment

  • Ensuring that clients have relevant and robust contracts of employment, worker contracts, agency worker agreements and contractor agreements in place, as well as advising on employment status rights and obligations
  • Drafting relevant handbooks and policies & procedures for clients, ensuring legal compliance as well as business flexibility
  • Partnering with clients in providing 'business as usual' and day-to-day HR and employment law support, ensuring that matters are dealt with practically, swiftly and with a solutions focused approach
  • Working with clients on diversity, equity & inclusion issues to ensure that policies and practices are non-discriminatory and inclusive, dealing with complaints of bullying, harassment & discrimination to assist in resolving matters before they turn litigious, but also delivering DE&I training for staff and managers setting out not only legal requirements but tying this into business culture

Employment M&A, outsourcing & TUPE

  • Advising companies on the employment aspects of IP rights, confidentiality and post termination covenants
  • Advising on employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions, including due diligence, reporting on structure, advising on any non-compliance etc in order to remove or minimise client risk whilst working towards a smooth transaction
  • As a "TUPE nerd", I enjoy reviewing staffing structures in business & asset transactions and in service provision changes, providing guidance on all aspects from information & consultation, due diligence & employment risks, through to drafting practical and solutions focused TUPE drafting to provide protection and minimised risks to reflect the commercial agreement between the parties

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Services