Employment Lawyer Needed - London

[nickd01]

Hi all,

My partner is being made redundant, and as part of her deal they'll pay £400 + VAT towards a lawyer to guide her.
Can anyone recommend one in London she could contact?
She has a fair amount of cash resting on this, so getting good advice could potentially save her some money

Thanks

[Jasandjules]

Are you looking for someone to simply go through the agreement (I am going to assume at this point there is some form of compromise agreement) and state the terms and their meaning, or for someone to go through the facts of the matter and ascertain her entitlement to ensure she is not being short changed?

[anonymous-user]

The employee must be legally advised on the effect of a compromise agreement to make it binding on her. It is commonplace but not obligatory for the employer to offer a contribution to the employee's legal costs. £400 is rather below the going rate.

Contact David Ludlow at Barlow Robbins. He can put one of his team on it.

[ChasW]

Agree on the £400. It does not go far unless you use a provincial solicitor. £600 would be more reasonable. Best to use a specialist though. There's no harm on having your employer on the back foot.

[Cheib]

If you want a good employment lawyer/pretty much the best firm in London is Mischon de Reya

Head of Employment practice is Joanna Blackburn...she's about £600 an hour plus VAT....you can get other partners for under £500 etc. The reality is that a "cheap" employment lawyer is probably going to be £300 an hour....might be a false economy.

Really depends how much cash you have riding on it to be honest and who the employer is. Some employer's need to know that you are taking very good legal advice and will respond accordingly.

[nickd01]

Thanks all.

She's been at the employer for 10 years, and has shares, final salary pension e.t.c. all tied up so good advice I felt was needed to ensure she doesn't inadvertently sign something that disadvantages her.

I'll follow up the names, thanks. I'll also double check the amount offered; pretty sure it was £400 + VAT. Still, we'll stick our money in too if it's worth it.

[anonymous-user]

Negotiate for more of a legal fees contribution. £700 plus VAT is not uncommon these days.

If going for the more expensive type of lawyer, other names to conjure with include Meriel Schindler at Withers, Dan Aherne and Catherine Taylor at Olswang, and Ellen Temperton at Lewis Silkin.

[Office_Monkey]

Breadvan72 said:

Negotiate for more of a legal fees contribution. £700 plus VAT is not uncommon these days.

If going for the more expensive type of lawyer, other names to conjure with include Meriel Schindler at Withers, Dan Aherne and Catherine Taylor at Olswang, and Ellen Temperton at Lewis Silkin.

Are you on commission for recommendations?

[anonymous-user]

No. GFYS.

[onesickpuppy]

Breadvan72 said:

No. GFYS.

[Office_Monkey]

Breadvan72 said:

No. GFYS.

[Sir Fergie]

Office_Monkey said:

Breadvan72 said:

Negotiate for more of a legal fees contribution. £700 plus VAT is not uncommon these days.

If going for the more expensive type of lawyer, other names to conjure with include Meriel Schindler at Withers, Dan Aherne and Catherine Taylor at Olswang, and Ellen Temperton at Lewis Silkin.

Are you on commission for recommendations?

I very much believe the answer to that is no - Breadvan 72 always seems to be genuinely helpful in these issues - seems to know his stuff - and his recommendations are based on trying to be helpful to posters here and directing them towards GOOD legal people to deal with.

Or maybe im just having a sense of humour failure today....

[Office_Monkey]

Sir Fergie said:

Office_Monkey said:

Breadvan72 said:

Negotiate for more of a legal fees contribution. £700 plus VAT is not uncommon these days.

If going for the more expensive type of lawyer, other names to conjure with include Meriel Schindler at Withers, Dan Aherne and Catherine Taylor at Olswang, and Ellen Temperton at Lewis Silkin.

Are you on commission for recommendations?

I very much believe the answer to that is no - Breadvan 72 always seems to be genuinely helpful in these issues - seems to know his stuff - and his recommendations are based on trying to be helpful to posters here and directing them towards GOOD legal people to deal with.

Or maybe im just having a sense of humour failure today....

Was a toungue in cheek comment. I appreciate BV's contributions to various threads & have a great deal of respect for him. I hope he took my post in the manner in which it was intended, I certainly found the GFYS post amusing (even if it was serious).

I do wonder if people mention where they heard of names when following up suggestions though.

[hajaba123]

Office_Monkey said:

Was a toungue in cheek comment. I appreciate BV's contributions to various threads & have a great deal of respect for him. I hope he took my post in the manner in which it was intended, I certainly found the GFYS post amusing (even if it was serious).

I do wonder if people mention where they heard of names when following up suggestions though.

I was in a similar situations a few years ago and Soovy recommended someone. I told the solicitor I got his name from an imaginary person on a car forum. He looked at me like I had two heads.... Soovy is tricky to identify

[Thankyou4calling]

Cheib said:

If you want a good employment lawyer/pretty much the best firm in London is Mischon de Reya

Head of Employment practice is Joanna Blackburn...she's about £600 an hour plus VAT....you can get other partners for under £500 etc. The reality is that a "cheap" employment lawyer is probably going to be £300 an hour....might be a false economy.

Really depends how much cash you have riding on it to be honest and who the employer is. Some employer's need to know that you are taking very good legal advice and will respond accordingly.

Sounds a bit OTT for this.

[Cheib]

Thankyou4calling said:

Cheib said:

If you want a good employment lawyer/pretty much the best firm in London is Mischon de Reya

Head of Employment practice is Joanna Blackburn...she's about £600 an hour plus VAT....you can get other partners for under £500 etc. The reality is that a "cheap" employment lawyer is probably going to be £300 an hour....might be a false economy.

Really depends how much cash you have riding on it to be honest and who the employer is. Some employer's need to know that you are taking very good legal advice and will respond accordingly.

Sounds a bit OTT for this.

As I said, depends how much cash you have riding on it and the attitude of the employer. I and some colleagues once retained an employment lawyer to advise us when the company we were working for was moving to an LLP. They did a shocking job....luckily for me so did the company's in house counsel. When it came to the crunch a few years later I used MdR....best money I have ever spent.

Unfortunately the reality in these kind of cases and indeed almost any dispute where an individual is taking action against a company the odds are heavily stacked against you because of the sheer cost of taking action. Small claims court is okay for some things but any kind of serious legal advice is ruinously expensive. Most companies first port of call is to mess you around for three month to make sure you've run up a four figure legal bill and to see how serious you are!