Shoosmiths LLP

Employment

Gwynneth is an experienced employment lawyer, advising businesses and senior executives in the commercial and public sector. Gwynneth has particular experience in the retail and higher and further education sectors. Gwynneth has gained valuable insight into employer working practices from secondments to two large organisations and she continues to enjoy a close working relationship with human resources departments advising on the impact of all aspects of employment law in the workplace.

Gwynneth provides strategic and commercial advice, tailored to the client’s desired outcomes, on all areas of employment law, including organisational restructures, contractual variations, employment-related support on business acquisitions and sales, TUPE in commercial agreements and business transfers/supplier change and post-termination restrictive covenants. Gwynneth regularly represents employers at employment tribunal hearings, which include complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims. Gwynneth is also an accredited trainer and delivers bespoke training to employers.

Recent work handled by Gwynneth includes:

• advising a major retailer on TUPE aspects and the application of the Agency Worker Regulations within commercial and outsourcing contracts;
• advising on the employment aspects of a business acquisition of a manufacturing assembly operations, and on the effective integration of incoming employees into an existing workforce as well as a few redundancies as a result, whilst ensuring minimal disruption to workforce morale and operations;
• advising a large motorway service company on the employment aspects and process involved in relation to a change in contractual pension benefits;
• advising a company on enforcement of post-termination restrictive covenants, resulting in monetary settlement in favour of the client;
• successful representation of a recruitment business at an employment in its defence against a claim of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination, involving issues of employment status and pregnancy discrimination;
• advising on and managing a claim brought by a trade union against a University for a protective award arising out of a collective redundancy process.Gwynneth is recognised by legal directory Chambers UK and is a leading lawyer on the Legal 500.

Gwynneth trained at Howes Percival and qualified as a solicitor in 1994, moving to Wollastons. She joined Shoosmiths in 1996 and spent five years in mortgage-related litigation, with a particular focus on professional negligence actions on behalf of high street banks and building societies and acted in the largest ever case managed litigation. Having retained a keen interest in employment law, she retrained into the employment law unit in September 2001. Gwynneth was made a partner in 2009 and heads up the Milton Keynes employment team.

French.

Employment Lawyers Association.

Cheltenham Ladies College; Hull University; College of Law, York.

Travel, food, books.