Herbert Smith Freehills LLP advises on the defence of major multi-party claims before employment tribunals, as well as assisting with the non-contentious employment aspects of sales, mergers and insolvencies, including industrial relations and cross-border employee transfers. The team is led by Andrew Taggart, who has 20 years of experience in employment litigation, industrial disputes and corporate transactional matters. He is supported by Tim Leaver, who also has a mixture of transactional and litigious expertise. Further key names in the team include Christine Young, who heads up the firm’s employment-related data protection and data subject rights sub-practice, and the experienced Peter Frost. Senior associate and barrister Siân McKinley and employee outsourcing expert Jennifer Andrews are also integral.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘Deep thinkers with a wide grasp of the law. Cases are led by outstanding, extremely knowledgeable and insightful partners and resourced intensively by with highly qualified and super-co-operative teams of assistants. It is a delight to work with them as counsel.’
‘Andrew Taggart is an highly incisive legal thinker with a keen eye on the big picture and practicalities, with outstanding emotional and intellectual intelligence. Peter Frost has unrivalled knowledge of the area and great wisdom and judgment enhanced by his lifetime's experience.’
‘An outstanding commercial employment team who offer a rare combination of commercial lit and employment lit experience within the team. Their experience is second to none and with plenty of new talent coming through they remain at the top of their game.’
'Christine Young - a superb litigator with great judgment.'
‘They are very good at providing comprehensive legal advise to a comprehensive set of problems. They are also extremely adept and advising as to where you need more legal advice.’
‘Peter Frost - Technical, considered, calm and amiable.'
'Andrew Taggart - you enjoy talking with him about legal problems and he is good at dealing with them in a light hearted way.'
‘HSF has real strength across the range of employment work. They particularly impress with the volume of matters which they can take on, and their ability to master complex legal arguments quickly.’

Key clients

Tesco
Post Office
Church Commissioners of England and Wales
The administrators (from PwC) of Made.com Design Limited
Stagecoach
Marex Group
Go-Ahead Group
Capital and Counties Properties
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners
The Ardonagh Group
Chevron
Page Group
Kin + Carta
Uber

Work highlights

Successfully acted for Post Office in relation to the defence of test case proceedings issued in the Employment Tribunal by 120 postmasters seeking accrued holiday pay on the basis that they claimed to be "workers" under UK employment protection law.
Provided strategic employment advice prior to the insolvency of Made.com Design Limited.
Advised The Go Ahead Group in relation to its acquisition and de-listing by private equity investors. This included managing all aspects of the transaction including, employment-related Takeover Code matters, coordination of support across multiple European jurisdictions and providing strategic employee and industrial relations advice in relation to the client's communication with its employees and trade unions. Also assisted the client with subsequent board-level changes and departures.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Peter Frost

Hall of fameHerbert Smith Freehills LLP

PartnerPeter is an employment lawyer specialising in managing high profile, complex disputes.

Andrew Taggart

Hall of fameHerbert Smith Freehills LLP

PartnerAndrew heads our EMEA employment team

Leading associates

Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.

Jennifer Andrews

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP

Senior Associate

Leading partners