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• Employment Law

• • Overview

  • A Day in the Life of

  Put Simply...

  Employment law covers all matters related to the workplace – whether you work in a small firm or are a cog in a big corporate wheel. Beginning with hiring, it moves through a complete cycle which can end in cessation of employment, voluntary or forced.
  
  Thanks to the ever-changing global scenario, it is a given that Employment Law is always dynamic, jurisdiction-specific and is extensive in its scope and application. One can broadly classify the practice of employment law into two main areas – Non-contentious and Contentious.
  
  Digging in deeper, the non-contentious section can be further sectioned into legislation; rules & regulations; policies & processes to be followed; and governing or regulatory authorities. Contentious employment law, on the other hand will cover breach in compliance with established principles, disputes on a variety of issues such as discrimination, remuneration, career growth, employer negligence & culpability and employee liability, misdemeanour, etc.
  
  Further classification can be done in terms of whether the employment relates to private service, or to public sector work; employer/employee relations, conflicts; and individual versus group/class related matters.

  What is involved in Employment Law?

  What do you have to do if you want to be an employment lawyer? The obvious first step will be to identify the area in which you want to specialize, look for firms and opportunities where this requirement can be fulfilled. Like the two sides of a coin, employment law is concerned on the one hand with an employee & his rights and obligations; on the other is the employer or work provider, either an individual or a group of people or a large organisation/company; employers’ rights, duties and obligations. Into this equation come matters of legislation, statutory authorities, regulations of conduct and the actual processes through which the law is administered and followed.
  
  A typical work cycle will comprise of hiring resources - advertising of job openings, the recruitment process, new joining formalities, remuneration, promotions/movements of employees, benefits & perks provided, organization restructuring, voluntary exits and litigation amongst many other things. While non-contentious work will be in providing advice, drafting, transactional tasks, and dispute resolution through arbitration and negotiations. Contentious work will cover dismissals, breach of contracts, harassment, redundancy/lay-off, discrimination on grounds of age, sex, religion, disability, age, etc.
  
  Solicitors who represent individuals or a group of employees (a union) where the issue is common to the group; will work on collecting information & research; preparing documentation such as contracts, claims, pleadings, etc; providing advice to clients and conduct negotiations & settlements on behalf of clients.
  
  Lawyers representing employers, on the other hand, will provide advice to companies/institutions on defence against claims, negotiation with employees and/or their unions; HR policies covering all aspects of employment; contractual content on remuneration, early & normal retirements, exits, non-compete clauses, workplace do’s and don’ts, etc.

  What is needed for Employment Law?

  To practice employment law, a solicitor needs to be agile and adaptable to operate in a constantly changing area, have a clear thought-process, good reasoning, communication and be up to date with the legal & commercial process.
  You must also have a genuine interest in subject matters on hand. Since this segment involves dealing with the good, the bad and ugly aspects of human nature, it is advantageous to be friendly, empathetic and balanced while handling issues concerning the workplace.
  
  Being a solicitor will allow you to participate fully on the case from start to completion, including advocacy. It is important to remember that the final outcome will depend on the quality and approach you as a solicitor will provide, therefore it is vital that you have a good grounding in interpersonal relationships and have excellent legal research skills.

  Current Climate for Employment Law?

  New legislation or amendments/supplements to existing laws are a common phenomenon when it comes to employment law. Recent developments include: Introduction of regulations dealing with age discrimination (Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, 2006); employers will need to review their existing policies are in compliance and revise where necessary.
  
  For example, job descriptions where number of years or qualification criteria can be interpreted to show bias/favour towards one set of employees.
  
  

  Day in the life of... an Employment Law Trainee at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP

  One of the best things about my current seat in the Employment Pensions and Incentives Department is that two days are rarely the same. As the contentious trainee my day to day work tends to be a mix of dealing with the Employment Tribunal or courts and clients (usually employers) in respect of claims brought by employees or assisting associates and partners with general advisory work.

  I tend to get into the office between 8:30 and 9:00 which gives me the opportunity to check any emails or answer phone messages after the all-important jolt of caffeine of course! One of the best tips I can give is to try and be as organised as possible in how you approach your workload. I will usually be working on a number of different matters so it is vital to diarise all deadlines i.e. disclosure or exchange of witness statements to ensure that nothing is missed. Lists of all the tasks you have been given and their urgency are imperative.

  At the moment I am assisting associates and partners in the group with amongst others a sex discrimination claim, a whistle blowing claim and a failure to properly consult in relation to a redundancy. On the non-contentious side I am assisting with a review of terms and conditions, a company reorganisation and redundancy and the employment aspects of due diligence on an asset sale from one of the Corporate Finance teams.

  The tasks of a trainee in the department vary considerably but communicating with the Employment Tribunals is inevitably up to trainees. This may concern the listing of hearings, availability of witnesses and preparation of bundles. Trainees will usually be asked to instruct barristers (known as Counsel) to represent our clients at tribunal or in court so we will often be involved in meetings or conference calls with Counsel and the client to discuss the issues in the case.

  The department is relatively small in terms of the number of trainees so there is a real chance to be involved in key areas. I have drafted Defences (known as Grounds of Resistance in the Tribunal) and witness statements and on the non-contentious side I have drafted service agreements, compromise agreement, consultancy agreements and letters of appointment. The department is very sociable and friendly so we often eat lunch together. I also regularly eat lunch with the other trainees either in the BLP canteen or in numerous places around London Bridge. Borough Market on a Friday lunchtime is always popular! I am also participating in BLP’s weekly reading scheme with a local primary school which takes place once a week at lunchtime.

  Training and keeping up to date on the latest developments is a key component of employment law as it changes so rapidly. Trainees are very involved in this side of the department and all the team meet regularly once a week to discuss the latest developments in case law and legislation. We use this as an opportunity to discuss the work that the department has been involved with and any interesting points that may have arisen. We also have training from external speakers and updates from other departments in the firm on a regular basis. It is obviously important that these developments are communicated to our clients and the trainees will often be involved in the preparation of presentations, case studies and handouts on training to clients.

  I usually leave the office at around 7pm but like in most departments in a law firm this varies depending on how busy you are. There have been occasions when I have stayed later or come in on a weekend when deadlines need to be adhered to but there is certainly no stay-late culture when it’s not necessary to do so. I regularly play tennis after work with the BLP club and drinks after work either with my department, previous departments or the trainees are a regular occurrence!

  Daily Diary

  Time:	Diary entry
  08:00	Check emails and voicemail
  09:00	Chasing Employment Tribunal
  10:00	Phoning Counsel and preparation of Tribunal Bundle
  11:00	Research for an associate
  12:00	Lunch
  13:00	Training Session on Pension Updates
  14:00	Review Compromise Agreement
  16:00	Attend Case Management Discussion by telephone
  18:00	Prepare Client Training materials on Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace

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