England - South West • Employment
Burges Salmon LLP
Burges Salmon LLP’s ‘pragmatic and thoughtful approach’ is valued by a host of blue-chip corporates and major public sector bodies, ranging from national retailers to governmental departments. The team is headed up by Adrian Martin, who regularly works with a range of leading businesses and public sector bodies on TUPE transfers, outsourcing projects, and associated disputes, among other matters. Senior partner Chris Seaton continues to advise on contentious and non-contentious issues for a host of clients, most recently for those in the consumer goods and healthcare sectors. Luke Bowery’s recent engagements include discrimination disputes, executive terminations, and mass redundancies, while James Green is noted for his financial services focus, advising on the employment aspects of major transactions within the sector. Jamie Cameron specialises in ESG employment matters.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The team really take time to understand the issues, the organisation, business risk appetite and preferred approach. They work with that information to provide appropriate advice and recommendations, challenging thinking, and identifying risks and potential solutions. There is always good cover for holidays, with interim support having a good handover and excellent knowledge of the case for continuity.’
‘Luke Bowery takes the time to build a good relationship and understanding of the business area. He listens and challenges to get to an agreed position, sharing alternative options but always with recommendations of what he believes will give the best outcome.’
‘We are a relatively small organisation, which sometimes leads to feeling deprioritised as customers when a service is contracted. This is absolutely not the case with Burges Salmon. The team work diligently to ensure that our needs are supported across the team. No matter which member of the team we engage with, they have the capability to respond, understand the context of the public environment we work in.
'I would highlight the whole team that I have worked with, namely Adrian Martin and Grace Malone. Adrian's wealth of knowledge and ability to turn requests round in a timely manner is phenomenal. Each individual in the team clearly understands the nuances in the public sector.'
- 'The team approaches work in a collaborative and friendly matter, which makes them feel like colleagues. They are both pragmatic and thoughtful in their approach. They work across my team who are at different levels and pitch information and advice appropriately. Invaluable contribution to our team.'
Key clients
- Babcock International Group plc
- Thomson Reuters
- John Lewis Partnership
- FirstGroup plc
- Bank of Ireland
- The Crown Estate
- Spire Healthcare Group plc
- Reiss
- Ofgem
- HS1
- The Racecourse Association
- Unispace Global Limited
- University of Bristol
- PGA European Tour
- Government Legal Department
- Transport for Wales
- TCR Group
- Scottish Building Society
- Affinity Water
- Optegra
- UK Atomic Energy Authority
- Royal Horticultural Society
- Sterlite Technologies
- Progressive Energy Limited
- Imperva UK Limited
- Food and Drink Federation
- Sport England
- Government Property Agency
- Ordnance Survey
Work highlights
- Defending a wide range of employment tribunal claims, spanning unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal, discrimination (including sex discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, disability discrimination, race discrimination), breach of contract, harassment and wrongful dismissal.
- Advising the FCDO on the employment aspects of the procurement process for UK and European Facilities Management Services across multiple jurisdictions, as part of the FCDO’s wider design, development and implementation of a new dynamic purchasing systems valued at up to £1.5 billion.
- Advising Babcock International Group on a full range of employment and HR issues across its c.34,000 employee global workforce.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Partner specialising in employment law and head of the employment law team. Advises on all areas of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious, including executive severance, restructuring, trade union and collective issues, TUPE, complex discrimination cases and Employment Tribunal and High Court litigation (including conducting tribunal advocacy). Has particular experience of advising on the employment and TUPE aspects of major procurements and outsourcing projects in both the public and private sector.
The firm's Senior Partner and also a partner in the Employment team dealing with the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment work; experienced tribunal advocate and adviser to a number of multinational companies based in the USA and Europe. He was formerly chair of the firm’s international committee and a member of the strategic Board. Now as Senior Partner he chair’s the firm’s Board.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Adrian Martin