GQ | LITTLER

Alison is a Senior Counsel at GQ|Littler and practises both contentious and non-contentious employment matters for businesses. She advises across a range of matters, often with a cross-border element. These include senior exits, team moves, restrictive covenants, whistleblowing frameworks and investigations, complex grievance and disciplinary matters and staff reorganisations. Alison is particularly experienced advising HR teams and Executive/Remuneration Committees on the employment aspects of international financial services regulatory investigations such as compensation freezing/adjustment and Conduct Rule breach assessments.

Ben Smith

Ben is a Senior Associate at GQ|Littler who works across all areas of employment law including advisory, litigation and transactional support. He has particular experience in defending complex Employment Tribunal litigation, including as part of the team that successfully appealed a long-running whistleblowing, sex discrimination, pregnancy and maternity discrimination, and victimisation claim to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Ben regularly supports and manages international employment advisory projects. He also has significant experience of managing document review projects, such as disclosure and data subject access requests, leveraging technology and flexible resourcing solutions. Drawing on a longstanding academic interest and experience working in the charitable sector, Ben is particularly interested in equality, diversity, and discrimination issues for employers arising in both contentious and non-contentious maters. Ben also supports the London office’s knowhow and training capability, regularly keeping clients and the team informed of legal developments, as well as the legal technology workstream.

Ben Rouse

Ben is an Associate at GQ|Littler and has experience across a broad spectrum of employment law matters including litigation, investigations, data protection, advisory and transactional support.

Caroline Baker

Caroline is a Partner at GQ|Littler who leads the firm's French Services, a bilingual and bicultural practice area she developed to advise francophone companies on their UK employees. She has a solid track record of providing pragmatic, commercial solutions to difficult advisory matters, including disciplinary issues involving regulated or board level employees, business restructures and challenging employee relations issues (in particular where there are allegations of discrimination or whistleblowing). In 2019, she was seconded to Marsh & McLennan, assisting them through the transitional period following a high-profile acquisition. She also has significant litigation expertise and regularly advises on claims in the employment tribunal and high court. Caroline frequently delivers training to financial services clients and representative bodies on a broad range of areas, including working behaviour, compliance with the Senior Managers and Certification Regime and the Conduct Rules. Caroline is head of the Women's Leadership Initiative in London and co-leader of the initiative throughout Europe, as well as being a member of the global Women's Leadership Initiative Steering Committee, which focuses on developing and retaining women leaders at every level of the firm. She is also part of the ELA Pro Bono Committee, in which she was one of the founders of the award winning ELIPS scheme at employment tribunals across the country.

Chris Coombes

Chris is a Senior Associate at GQ|Littler and advises clients on the full spectrum of employment issues and has broad experience working on global employment projects for clients with international operations. Chris helps clients find pragmatic, commercial solutions, especially in the context of settlement negotiations and post-termination restrictions. Chris has a particular focus on the platform economy and technology sectors, having spent the latter part of 2022 on secondment to Uber’s legal team. Chris regularly advises clients in relation to redundancies, business transfers, grievances, misconduct, performance, data protection and trade union issues. He has experience in leading complex, sensitive settlement negotiations and has also worked on multiple high-value employment tribunal claims, with a particular focus on discrimination and whistleblowing.

Darren Isaacs

Darren is a Partner at GQ|Littler and primarily focuses on cross-border and international HR projects. He is often instructed by clients who have large-scale EMEA matters that need managing, however he also regularly covers Australia and New Zealand. The projects Darren has worked on include international M&A transactions, multi-country document reviews and cross-border litigation. Additionally, Darren manages a domestic UK practice which includes advising local UK clients on all their day-to-day HR needs, as well as defending high-value employment tribunal litigation.

Deborah Margolis

Deborah is a Senior Counsel at GQ|Littler and is qualified to practice in both the UK and Ireland. In the UK, Deborah practises both contentious and non-contentious employment law for businesses, advising clients on a wide of range of matters, from employee relations matters to terminations and large-scale projects, often with an international element. Deborah is one of Littler’s workplace data privacy experts, having acted as data privacy counsel for one of GQ|Littler’s technology clients in 2017-2018 during which she led their GDPR implementation and compliance project. She advises both UK and Irish clients on data privacy compliance (often with an international angle), complex data privacy issues, subject access requests and data breaches. Deborah has also become one of Littler’s European subject matter experts on Artificial Intelligence (AI), its use in the workplace and its future regulation in both the EU and UK. She frequently speaks as a thought-leader on AI at international conferences, including Littler’s flagship client conference and AI summit.

Dilshen Dahanayake

Dilshen is an Associate at GQ|Littler and has experience across the full gamut of employment law. He assists employers with complex dismissals, remuneration arrangements, asset protection, restructurings and redundancies, and discrimination. He also has significant experience in dispute resolution, including having acted for clients in mediation and appeared as counsel in New Zealand’s Employment Court in injunctive proceedings and a high-profile worker reclassification claim. Dilshen also advises on the people aspects of corporate transactions.

Dónall Breen

Dónall is a Senior Associate at GQ|Littler and advises clients on the full spectrum of employment issues, including advisory, litigation and transactional support. Having worked in both top ranked private practice employment teams and major high-profile organisations, he has first-hand experience in managing complex and sensitive matters by grounding his advice in the reality his clients are facing. Dónall is qualified to practice in both the UK and Ireland and has helped a multitude of international companies enter and exit numerous European jurisdictions, as well as advising on front page race discrimination claims, large scale reorganisation projects and international transactions in excess of $1billion. He has a particular focus on the sports and technology sectors and has gained a deep understanding of their specific requirements through his ability to swiftly appreciate organisations' needs and outcomes.

Georgia Fisher

Georgia is an Associate at GQ|Littler and advises on the full range of employment law issues and works across all areas, including advisory, litigation and transactional support.

Hannah Drury

Hannah is an Associate at GQ|Littler and works across all areas of employment law, including advisory, litigation and transactional support.

James Champness

James is a Senior Associate at GQ|Littler and has worked with an array of different clients, from start-up and scale-up technology organisations, to fully-established financial services and insurance institutions. He has supported clients with challenging employee issues, including grievances, large-scale redundancies and Board-level exits. He has also gained valuable experience from various client secondments including the Bank of England, a global IT outsourcing company, and a UK-based nuclear processing organisation. James specialises in advising on issues relating to TUPE Regulations. He has experience providing guidance for TUPE transfers arising from business acquisitions and outsourcing arrangements, and assists clients seeking to harmonise terms post-transfer in a way that is compliant with legislation. He has also provided training sessions to leadership teams on this topic to support the planning of such transfers. James also advises more generally on day-to-day matters, including contract and handbook reviews, queries relating to holiday pay and equal pay, and guidance in respect of the employment status of ‘atypical’ workers.

Jenny Allan

Jenny is an Associate at GQ|Littler and has experience working on multijurisdictional projects, corporate transactions and employment advisory work.

Jessica Lim

Jessica is an Associate at GQ|Littler. She completed a litigation rotation during her training contract at a national Australian law firm and has experience working across all areas of employment law, including advisory, litigation, transactional and multi-jurisdictional matters.

Jon Gilligan

Jon Gilligan is one of the founders of GQ|Littler and its Managing Partner. He has previously worked on some of the most challenging employment law matters and focuses on legal advice being delivered in a way that finds practical and creative solutions for clients that are tailored to their risk appetite and culture.

Josephine Rendall-Neal

Josephine is an Associate at GQ|Littler and advises on the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment matters. She has experience with complex employment tribunal and high court litigation including employee claims of unfair dismissal, discrimination, victimisation, and whistleblowing, as well as employer claims for breach of contract against former employees. Josephine regularly provides advice on employment aspects of corporate transactions and reorganisations, including due diligence, TUPE, and collective redundancy exercises. She also advises on day-to-day HR issues such as grievance and disciplinary investigations, data subject access requests, policies, recruitment, and employee exits. Josephine is a native French speaker and advises in both French and English.

Kate Richards

Kate is an Associate at GQ|Littler and works across all areas of employment law, including advisory, litigation and transactional support.

Kate Potts

Kate is a Senior Associate at GQ|Littler. She practices all aspects of employment law including contentious and non-contentious matters and day-to-day HR advisory work. Having spent nine months on secondment at Uber, Kate is particularly interested in the future of work and has great practical experience working with technology businesses, particuarly in relation to navigating employment status topics. Kate was part of the team at Uber which pioneered the groundbreaking trade union recognition deal with GMB. She is experienced in working with a range of business stakeholders including legal teams, HR specialists, board members, operations teams, software specialists, regulatory bodies, ACAS, as well as marketing and public relations teams. Kate is experienced in providing strategic advice on a wide range of workplace issues, including handling complex grievances and disciplinaries as well as managing senior exits and large data subject access requests. Kate regularly works with financial services firms during disciplinary processes to navigate the regulatory implications. She regularly advises on employment tribunal litigation including claims relating to discrimination, whistleblowing, unfair dismissal, and working time. Kate also has experience advising on employee competition and breach of confidentiality matters which involve High Court injunctions. Kate has a keen interest in diversity, equity and inclusion and she works with management teams to update and enhance their policies and practices to help achieve their diversity, equity and inclusion objectives.

Laura Lobb

Laura is a partner at GQ|Littler and has over 14 years' experience advising on the employment aspects of commercial transactions. Laura is an expert on the employment aspects of commercial transactions and, in particular, complex M&A and TUPE/outsourcing arrangements. Having been involved in matters from major reorganisations through to advising at Board level on significant transactions, Laura gives practical and pragmatic advice with a commercial focus. Laura also has experience of advising on substantial and high-profile regulatory matters and has advised in relation to HMRC investigations into NMW issues in the technology sector (specifically in relation to secondees from other jurisdictions and apprentices), ICO investigations following insurance sector-wide data breaches, and both supporting and carrying out HR investigations as an independent investigator. Laura excels at delivering realistic and clear advice in order to build strong working relationships in these challenging situations. Building on an early career of advising in relation to TUPE and organisational change in public sector matters, Laura has transferred this knowledge of a regulated environment to advising on matters relating to financial services. She has advised in relation to the effects of SMCR and the implementation of GDPR and gives advice that takes into account the nuances of working in a regulated sector, providing support from a legal perspective with an insight into employee relations, accountability to a regulator and public perception.

Lisa Coleman

Lisa is a Senior Associate at GQ|Littler. She works across all areas of employment law focusing mainly on day-to-day advisory work and litigation support. Lisa has significant experience in defending high value and complex litigation, particularly in leading on strategic decisions on long-running disputes. She has particular expertise and interest in discrimination, sexual harassment and whistleblowing cases, often where claimants are seeking multiple millions of pounds in remedy, as well as experience in High Court proceedings for breach of contract. She is particularly interested in discrimination claims and regularly supports clients with difficult employee grievances, disciplinaries, redundancies and employee exits. She also specialises in advising on data protection issues and has experience in managing and responding to data subject access requests and helping employers comply with their data protection obligations. Additionally, she has provided various training sessions to clients on this topic and has developed guides and step-plans to support employers with compliance. Lisa regularly provides support on day-to-day matters such as advising on the enforceability of restrictive covenants, carrying out employment contract and handbook audits and coordinating the roll out of global contracts. Lisa also plays a key role in the firm’s CSR efforts and holds the relationship with the London Legal Support Trust and encourages the team to get involved in charitable initiatives such as the London Legal Walk, Great Legal Bake Off and annual pub quiz. She also regularly volunteers at the Bethnal Green Pro Bono Clinic.

Mark Callaghan

Mark is a Senior Associate at GQ|Littler and advises on the full range of employment law matters, with a particular focus on clients who have international operations and/or face multi-jurisdictional employment law challenges. He particularly enjoys finding solutions to knotty employee relations issues regarding (amongst other things) performance, redundancies, disciplinaries and grievances, and post-termination restrictions. His advice is pragmatic and empathetic.

Natasha Adom

Natasha is a Partner at GQ|Littler and leads the firm’s client training practice. She has extensive experience of developing and delivering employment law programs on a range of issues including, handling complex disciplinary and grievance matters, managing redundancies and discrimination. She has over a decade’s experience in advising clients on employment relations issues, is an accredited trainer certified by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) and has a particular passion for diversity, equity and inclusion training in the workplace. She also has a wealth of experience in delivering effective employment legal training to clients, on issues including anti-discrimination, harassment, hiring and firing, employment tribunal claims, witness preparation and managing sickness absence. She also writes frequently for legal and HR publications.

Nicola James

Nicola is a Partner at GQ|Littler and specialises in complex and international transactions including multi-jurisdictional carve outs, mergers and acquisitions, outsourcings, business transfers and reorganisations. Nicola has experience advising a broad range of clients including those in the entertainment, healthcare, retail and financial sectors. Noteable work includes advising: Universal Music Group (UMG) on the separation of the Parlophone Label Group from EMI Records and its subsequent sale to Warner Music Group for GBP 487 million; Kantar (a Bain Capital portfolio company) on its multi-jurisdictional carve out and disposal of Kantar Health to Cerner corporation; Marlin Equity Partners on its acquisition of the global Arcserve business from CA Inc, transferring employees in 28 jurisdictions; and Emerson Electric Co on a number of its carve out transactions (both sale and acquisition side) including the purchase of the Tools and Test business from Textron Inc and Intelligent Platforms business from General Electric Company. For her work with UMG and Marlin, Nicola has been part of the teams winning Commercial Team of the Year 2013 and 2015 at the British Legal Awards and Lawyer Awards respectively.

Oliver Moreton

Oli is a Senior Associate at GQ|Littler. He particularly enjoys litigation, and has experience defending employers in the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and the High Court. Recent work includes assisting clients with workforce restructures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, advising on a disciplinary investigation into serious allegations of sexual harassment by a senior employee and advising a well-known high street brand on its response to an HMRC investigation into National Minimum Wage compliance.

Paul Quain

Paul Quain is one of the founders of GQ|Littler and one of London’s most well-known employment lawyers. Paul has particular experience in complex, high value employment disputes which require a strategic solution. He regularly advises on team moves and theft of confidential information matters which require High Court injunctions, often with a global, multi-jurisdiction element, bonus disputes, commercial agency disputes, discrimination cases and TUPE. He specialises in collective bargaining, trade union disputes and European Works Councils and is particularly commended for his tactical approach in litigation matters which helps deliver the desired outcome. Paul is also a fully trained and CEDR accredited mediator and an expert in dispute resolution in the employment field. Paul has worked on some reported high-profile employment law cases including; obtaining an injunction for a venture capital business against an employee who had taken confidential information and securing the return of the information; defending a bank against a multi-million pound discrimination and victimisation claim and defending a large investment bank against a TUPE claim brought by fifty individuals. Paul’s earlier experience includes cases which are household names in the employment law world including Keen v Commerzbank (a seminal Court of Appeal on discretionary bonuses), Stransky v Bristol Rugby Club and Rutherford v the DTI.

Paul Harrison

Paul Harrison is a Partner at GQ|Littler with over 25 years of employment law experience at leading City practices. He has gained a wealth of experience advising UK and multi-national employers on sensitive and business critical employment issues and has significant experience within financial services and the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sectors. Throughout his career he has developed a particular expertise in dealing with complex litigation on discrimination, equal pay, contractual and restrictive covenant disputes in the High Court. He also specialises in board room issues, including the appointment and removal of directors and board room disputes, and in collective rights, with a particular focus on trade union recognition and industrial relations. Paul is also experienced in advising on the employment aspects of domestic and global restructuring and business transactions. Paul regularly provides his insights on employment law, including contributing to textbooks on discrimination and TUPE, publishing numerous articles and attending speaking opportunities.

Philip Cameron

Philip is a Partner at GQ|Littler and has a wealth of experience across all areas of employment law, with a focus on complex and high value litigation in the employment tribunal, High Court and appellate courts. He has regularly advised on restraint of trade issues including restrictive covenants, breach of confidentiality and team moves. Philip has also handled trade union disputes including recognition issues and injunctions to prevent industrial action. High value discrimination and whistleblowing claims have formed the core of his tribunal practice. He has a wide and varied experience in non-contentious issues where his in-house HR experience is invaluable. Such issues include managing redundancies, TUPE, disciplinary and grievance issues, managing sickness, drafting employment contracts, bonus communications, and policies and procedures.

Raoul Parekh

Raoul Parekh is a Partner at GQ|Littler and leads the firm’s international practice.  He has a particular focus on assisting international clients with their UK and EMEA employment law challenges. Raoul has significant employment tribunal litigation experience, as well as High Court employee competition matters. He is also experienced in day-to-day HR support, including dealing with employee grievances and consultation processes, terminations and drafting contracts and policies. Raoul acts for several “professional employer organisations” (or PEOs) and “employers of record” (or EORs), advising them on their UK and international employment compliance strategy and other issues. He has been invited to speak to the UK and European Employment Lawyers Associations about the employment law issues raised by these innovative sectors. Raoul was a founding co-chair of ELA’s Race Equality Committee. He also leads our internal Pro Bono and CSR programme and volunteers at the University House Legal Advice Centre’s employment law clinic.

Sophie Vanhegan

Sophie is a Partner at GQ|Littler and has extensive experience in both High Court employment litigation and cross-border M&A transactions. Sophie is experienced in all aspects of employment law and specialises in complex employment litigation. She regularly advises on restrictive covenant, breach of confidentiality and team move matters which involve High Court injunctions and subsequent trials, as well as bonus disputes and high-value discrimination claims. Many of the cases she works on have cross-jurisdictional elements. She has worked on some of the most complex employment litigation matters and specialises in tailoring a strategic approach to her clients’ risk and litigation appetite. Her clients include businesses in the financial services, technology, partnership and LLP sectors. Sophie’s recent client experience includes advising a FinTech company on enforcing a non-compete restriction against a former senior employee who had joined a competitor; defending a financial services firm in a multi-million pound discrimination dispute with a former employee; advising a bank on a protracted financial misconduct investigation involving a regulated person; and advising a major financial services client on a restructuring of its bonus deferral arrangements. She has also advised a range of clients on reopening their workplaces following the COVID-19 lockdown. Sophie is also a co-founder of the firm's Women's Leadership Initiative.

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