About

I am a Legal Director in our employment team. I joined Lewis Silkin in 2024, as part of the firm's Leeds office where my cockapoo, Bailey, frequently visits.

I have extensive experience in providing strategic commercial advice across all areas of contentious and non-contentious employment law. I work with household brand name clients in retail, hospitality, financial services and healthcare, alongside SMEs in the automotive, technology and insurance sectors.

My expertise includes managing large-scale transformation and redundancy programmes; navigating multifaceted disciplinary, grievance and absence issues; defending complex and potentially reputation-damaging tribunal claims; and helping businesses negotiate sensitive senior executive terminations and appointments.

Experience

Employment

  • Providing commercial and pragmatic advice on day-to-day employment queries for a varied range of clients and navigating clients through complex matters and projects, such as restructures, TUPE transfers and complex grievance and disciplinary matters
  • Managing and advising on collective redundancy and change programmes for clients in the retail, banking and travel sector
  • Creating and delivering redundancy process training sessions for management teams
  • Supporting clients with securing senior executive exits with minimal disruption to the business. A recent example includes advising a client preparing for sale on a complex senior executive exit with a significant risk of a successful claim for sex and pregnancy-related discrimination. I navigated differing views of the Board/investors ensuring a claim-free exit whilst also guiding the Board on the swift exit of the HRD due to a breakdown in relationships

Employment litigation

  • Advising and conducting my own advocacy for clients (from retailers to law firms) at Employment Tribunals across the UK, covering all types of claims from unfair dismissal to complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims

Investigations

  • Conducting external workplace investigations into employee complaints (particularly those relating to discrimination and bullying and harassment allegations) as well as other issues such as modern slavery
  • Helping clients to run their own internal workplace investigations

Transactional employment and commercial contracts

  • Extensive experience in transactional work for a broad range of clients acting on both the sell side and buy side carrying out the due diligence process; drafting / negotiating employment protections in purchase agreements; and advising on senior executive service agreements
  • Advising on TUPE provisions in commercial contracts (including entry / exit clauses, warranties and indemnities), and also the strategic and commercial approach to the application of TUPE and the resulting obligations

Testimonials

"Gemma is our go-to person in employment law."
Chambers & Partners

Services

Sectors