Shoosmiths LLP

Partner, Employment

Phil qualified in 2006 and is an employment law partner based in Shoosmiths’ Leeds office.

Phil is a specialist in both contentious and non-contentious employment law. An experienced advocate who has appeared in high profile high value Employment Tribunal proceedings in England; Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Phil’s contentious practice involves representing clients in all manner of unfair dismissal, discrimination, breach of contract, TUPE and all/any other complaints employees may bring. This includes successfully defending a class Employment Tribunal action involving over 1,000 claimants.

Phil provides support on matters ranging from day-to-day employee relations issues to large scale strategic change projects. He offers business planning and strategy advice to clients in respect of issues including executive severance, restructuring/redundancy and TUPE.

Phil is also an experienced trainer providing legal and commercial training to clients designed to ensure that they act in a legally compliant way but more over used the law to support and facilitate the achievement of their business’ operational objectives.

Recent projects that Phil has worked with clients on include:

• the strategic planning and execution of a large scale outsourcing project affecting 500 plus employees to an employer in India;
• the management and national delivery of a senior manager training project to over 3,500 employees;
• the successful design and implementation of a headcount and structural change project designed to save a client £1.2 million year-on-year; and
• the successful defence (with costs) of an eight day race discrimination claim brought against a retail plc business and six of its employees.

Phil is known for his straight forward focused advice. Clients comment that his ability to quickly understand the commercial issues behind their problems ensures that the solutions he provides are both legally robust and genuinely add-value to the operational side of their business. Phil is also complemented on his easy to understand and personable style which allows clients to be confident in their understanding and application of the advice he provides.