Lewis Silkin

Partner

James is a Partner in the employment team, advising UK and multinational corporate clients on all of their workforce issues, with a particular focus on industrial relations and trade union matters, complex change projects (including large-scale collective consultations) and sensitive investigations. His clients include household name brands across the retail, luxury goods, hospitality, sport and manufacturing sectors.

Employment James is a trusted employment law adviser for the HR and in-house legal teams of many well-known businesses.

James particularly enjoys navigating his clients through complex collective matters, such as multi-site restructurings, TUPE transfers and harmonising employment terms. By way of example:

He has advised a football club regarding the people-related aspects of a reorganisation of its various off-pitch functions, including managing risks associated with redundancies and changes to terms and conditions of employment.

He has recently supported a FTSE 250 manufacturer with a programme to standardise its employment contracts across the whole of its c.3,000-strong workforce, including navigating threats of industrial action and adverse PR.

Industrial Relations James is a member of Lewis Silkin’s specialist industrial relations team and an increasingly large part of his practice is providing pro-active strategies for businesses in dealing with difficult industrial relations and trade union issues.

He regularly advises on managing and resolving collective disputes, including union recognition and industrial action. For example, James has recently helped a multi-site food manufacturing business to avoid prolonged strike action regarding pay negotiations. The success of the strategy James contributed to allowed for the company to continue production and avoid negative PR for its risk-averse parent company.

Investigations James has experience in conducting and overseeing the most sensitive and complex investigations, often involving complaints brought about a company’s Board or HR team. James has a particular strength in building trust with all parties and delicately managing the human elements at play.

Recent examples of his work in this area include carrying out a sensitive investigation into allegations of discrimination and bullying by a multi-national media company’s employee relations team; and overseeing a multi-faceted grievance investigation and disciplinary process against a Board Director and founder of an international fertility treatment business.