Tuesday 25 December 2018

What it looks like to work as one of the employment solicitors in London?

Employment law, primarily, defines the relationship between employees and employers, counting what employers can imagine from people at work and the privileges of those individuals at the workplace. It can include counselling employees on their contract of employment or how to bargain an exit from their existing employer; or can involve guiding companies on how best to deal a grievance or disciplinary procedure or protect a tribunal claim. It can also involve the management of major projects, such as a large-scale redundancies or transfers from one firm to another.


One of the employment solicitors in London said that his work is divided between contentious and non-contentious guidance. Contentious advice simply refers to helping employers (generally) on how to navigate and perform a litigation process to get the best result. This includes paying visit to the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal, High Court and Court of Appeal. Non-contentious advice can encompass preparing and forwarding day-to-day support to HR professionals, preparing contracts of employment, employee policies, remuneration policies and restrictive covenants. It can also involve supporting the colleagues in other work sections who look for employment advice as part of a bigger project or transaction.

Analysis, responsiveness and commerciality are three primary principles employment solicitors in London focuses on. A lawyer always needs to be capable of analyzing the situation and the facts of a situation and understanding that against the relevant law. they also need to be reply quickly and precisely so that a client is able to make an informed decision. Eventually, clients look for practical advice, instead of an academic definition of the law.

Working as a solicitor at a City firm is always busy, though there are surely times that are busier than others.  A large and composite case can involve four or five employment solicitors in London working on it at one time and can consume much of your day.  Considering this, there are periods when a case or project may have done or being entering a quiet period where we can then catch up on other tasks.


The ever-evolving nature of employment law makes it both stimulating and interesting. A change in government will lead to a change of method to employment rights, such as with the introduction of Employment Tribunal fees and the upsurge of the qualifying period of one-sided discharge from one year’s service to two years’ service. It is important for a professional to react to any changes as they happen, or preferably before they happen so that our clients are as well prepared as possible.

Trends affecting the legal profession in the UK.

How is Brexit influencing the law firms in London and the rest of the UK? “That's a big question. In other words, it can be said like this: is it an opportunity or a threat?” The answer to that query is for one to decide, but what you need to know is that Brexit is related to legal experts for two reasons: first, because it increases the probability of changes to literally hundreds of laws, rules, and regulations which manage how businesses function and how the country is managing things– from IP and immigration to finance and food standards. Net, Brexit will mark the UK economy – as of now, the recession many dreaded has not happened, but it’s time to know more about the state of the economy below.

Lawyers are facing an increased demand to explain to clients in every domain how they should place themselves for Brexit; some commentators have conveyed that the only people who will advantage from Brexit are lawyers and legal consultants. Typically bigger law firms in London are doing more Brexit-related work, as their clients are more likely to be businesses with international or European operations. “Brexit is known to fuel great amounts of work for law firms all across the UK. Easy things like how clients mark their products are wanting a major legal reconsideration. There's also a great amount of work coming in for our international arbitration and trade lawyers. In an era of uncertainty, clients look to law firms in London for reassurance. And the need for legal advice about Brexit will only strengthen after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019. It’s in the months and years after the eventual shape of Brexit becomes ostensible that there will be a demand for an entire range of legal services flowing from the steady decoupling of UK law from the whole body of EU law.

A major field of the economy – and legal practice – affected by Brexit is financial offerings. The main issue is whether UK-based firms will hold their 'passporting' rights to trade in the EU. It now appears as if passporting will terminate post-Brexit, as the government has dedicated to leaving the single market for services. This could still alter and the government has conveyed it wants to stay as close as possible to the EU single market. Still, the financial services sector has faced only minor disturbance so far: the newest figures show banks propose to move only nearly 5,000 jobs out of the UK as an outcome of Brexit, much lesser than actual estimates of tens of thousands of jobs going.
A general catchphrase emerged from global and international firms is that their increasing presence at foreign location will help shore up any staggers in the UK – that's really awesome for the firms, but not much coziness to trainees and other employees in Britain if jobs are moved at international locations.

However, it is necessary to do thoughtful research on all available legal options before banking on a particular law firm.

Tips to select from the best UK immigration lawyers.

It is important to note that it’s not that feasible to choose a talented professional among the best range of UK immigration lawyers. If you wish to alter your residency status in the United States, you should consult the tangled correctly and consider the great amount of the paperwork you’ll have to deal with. The perfect lawyer will ensure that your case can be handled on time and without any troublesomeness.


It's necessary to make sure your attorney carries appropriate license to offer the service and has the perfect credentials. You can verify that information in the law office or by calling the local bar association. You can easily get to check about any disciplinary proceedings the lawyer has ever encountered.

Ask reliable people if they are able to suggest any good UK immigration lawyer. The local lawyers association will hardly recommend any specific attorney, so make sure you’ve expanded sufficient recommendations from your friends, family members etc. In this case you will also feasibly get the negative feedbacks about the legal expert.

Don’t unavoidably search for an attorney with excessive charges. The best UK immigration lawyers do typically charge high fees in section with the qualified service, but not every costly attorney is qualified. Search for a lawyer with good reputation, whose fees are reasonable for you.

It could be beneficial for you if the chosen attorney also offers the additional services. This way, you will save a lot of hassle and time if you get all your legal work from the same expert. You can also get help by dealing with your debt in the most efficient and timely matter if you deal with the best immigration lawyer in California, who is also a bankruptcy attorney.

If you are still muddled by the means of finding the perfect immigration Lawyer in London, the easiest way to find immigration law firms or individual lawyers is through an easy online search like in case with any other service. You can also be easily provided by the feedbacks, usually included in the related website section.

Interview possible lawyers to get one who matches your needs the best. Ask them if they have any experience in managing your case type. Immigration law is a big specialty, so you'll get a lawyer who is familiar with your kind of case. If the lawyer is able to give client references, refer to the contacts to get a detailed understanding of the lawyers' work styles.


When you're confident that you've got a lawyer you feel easy with, there's only one thing left to do before you enter into a service contract. Contact your local state bar to find out if your lawyer is licensed and in better position, and if he or she has ever been subject to disciplinary action.

The recent changes in UK’s employment law.

Employment law is one aspect of the law that is on constant change. For both employees as well as employers, it is necessary to keep abreast of these changes and developments so as to provide the best services to their clients. If you’re looking for the best legal firms in London, having knowledge of these changes would help you avail the best services. Let’s take a look at these changes.


Pay in lieu of annual leave

The worker must have been given a chance to avail that leave and it is for the employer to depict that it invigorated the worker to do so, while informing him or her, precisely and in good time, of the risk of losing that leave if it is not availed.

Employers should make sure that they have suitable language in employment contracts and annual leave policies in regard to the carryover and payment in lieu of vacant holiday, and consider having actions to retell workers to use their annual leave during the relevant holiday year.

Part-time workers

The Court of Appeal has stated that a part-time cabin crew member who needed to be ready for 53.5% of the hours of her full-time comparator but got only 50% of the salary, had set up a prima facie case of less promising treatment.

The questions hanging as to whether the less favorable treatment was defensible and, if not, what the suitable remedy need to be. The case will now get back to the Employment Tribunal for this to be dogged.

Harassment

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has verified that, when examining whether workplace conduct leads to harassment, it is suitable to assess that conduct within the context in which it happened. All leading legal firms in London need to be aware of this.

In this situation, the Claimant introduced a harassment claim on the basis that he had been called a “fat ginger pikey”. He was diabetic and had relevant associations with the traveler community. The Employment Tribunal took into account that the comment is possibly discriminatory but that the office culture in question was one of good-natured sneering and teasing among modest salespeople and, at the time, the Claimant did not take the remark incorrect. The EAT long-established that the Employment Tribunal was permitted to do this research.

Company liable for data breach

The Court of Appeal has supported the decision of the High Court that Morrisons was vicariously accountable for the actions of a disgruntled employee who dispatched the payroll details of around 100,000 employees on the web.


The Court stated that there was an adequate link between the employee’s actions and his employment to make Morrisons vicariously liable. He had got the data in during employment as a senior IT internal auditor and had been asked to forward it to the company’s external auditor. The fact that he had copied it and revealed it in an illegal way was carefully connected to what he had been asked to do and his motive was immaterial.

Take a look at UK’s commercial law after Brexit.

While the exact details of the footings of a Brexit will be exchanged in the upcoming months and years, businesses to be expected to be pretentious by a Brexit should classify potential aspects of risk and impact and plan staff and customer communications. Those businesses will need to put aside time and resources for further examining how they will be impacted as the picture becomes clearer.


When Britain separates from the EU, UK businesses may no longer be able to take the benefit of the procedure for completing the merger of European companies pursuant to the Cross-Border Mergers Directive and the related executing UK Regulations. These regulations enable mergers of EEA companies, given that the merger includes a minimum of one UK company and at least one firm from another EEA member state. Corporate groups wanting to assume a European cross-border merger, pursuant to the Directive, which involves more than one UK company, should decide to finish these transactions prior to Britain leaving the EU.

Apart from the influence on cross-border mergers, the biggest impact on international corporate transactions is supposed to emerge from the general uncertainties created by Brexit (specifically to the extent that those qualms remain unanswered as the actual Brexit date nears) and alterations to Sterling exchange rates since the Brexit referendum. These points are discussed further below.
Insinuations for foreign businesses

Overseas businesses frequently begin operations in the UK as a foundation stone to dealing with other EU countries. Government analysis in 2013 discovered that half of all European headquarters of non-EU businesses are in the UK.

A number of key concerns emerging from Brexit remain to be exchanged or strong-minded, including the nature of the UK's future trading relationship with the EU, the rights of EU nationals living in the UK and likewise controls on immigration between the UK and other EU Member States. The indecision over these terms of these future arrangements may disturb the choice by businesses to establish operations in the UK and could lead to a relocation of the headquarters of some non-EU firms to other Member States or the establishment by them of the latest subsidiaries in other EU Member States to preserve their single market access.

The leading commercial lawyers in London agree that the value of Sterling has fallen meaningfully since the referendum relative to a number of its counterparts, including the US dollar, and we hope to see major exchange rate fluctuations.

A decline in the value of Sterling is great thing for overseas businesses coming from the UK, but not for overseas businesses leading to the UK. For overseas businesses speculating an investment in the UK, the decline in the value of Sterling may provide fruitful opportunities to a majority of commercial lawyers in London. There was an obvious increase in the value of foreign company achievements of British firms following the Brexit plebiscite.


The current objective of the UK Government is that EU law will bound to apply straight to the UK, but will be transferred into UK law upon a Brexit under the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. Parliament can then regulate which rudiments of that law to retain, modify, replace or eradicate from UK law.

Monday 24 December 2018

Have you checked the latest changes in UK’s employment law?

Employment law is continually on the change. It is very important to keep track of the most updated employment law changes for ease of work. Let’s take a detailed look at the major guidelines and updates to UK’s employment law.


The government has described details of the changes it suggests to make to employment law following the Matthew Taylor Good Work review, along with draft legislation.

Key proposals include:

·         lawgiving to improvise the clearness of the employment status tests and bring into line the employment and tax status frameworks

·         an authority to a written statement of terms and conditions for workers (as well as employees), from day one (rather than within two months)

·         a surge in the reference period, from 12 weeks to 52 weeks, for ascertaining an average week's pay for holiday pay objectives where the worker has variable pay

·         a right for workers to ask for a more fixed working pattern after 26 weeks of service

·         an alteration in legislation relating to continuity of employment, so that a break of up to four weeks between contracts will not disrupt continuity of employment (an increase from one week currently)
·         a revoke of the Swedish derogation – which presently enables agency workers to be paid less than other permanent employees in specific circumstances.

Worker Status

The Court of Appeal has supported the employment tribunal’s decision that Uber drivers are workers and were working when they had their app turned on and were prepared and willing to accept trips. Fascinatingly the judges were not common in their decision with one judge discordant with this conclusion.

Disability Discrimination

The Supreme Court has thought that an ill-health early retirement pension given to a disabled employee, on the basis of the part-time salary that he was getting before he retired, was not an uncomplimentary treatment for the resolutions of a disability discrimination claim.

New Statutory Rates

The government has published the proposed new statutory rates that will apply from April 2019:
·         Statutory maternity pay, paternity payment, shared parental pay and adoption pay will jump to £148.68 (from £145.18)

·         Statutory sick pay will jump to £94.25 (from £92.05).

Permanent health insurance

For employment lawyers in London, it is important to note that The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that an employer was in a break of an indirect term when it discharged an employee for incapacity whilst he was contractually entitled to long-term disability benefits.

The EAT held that a term could be disguised into the employment contract that, once the employee has become entitled to payment of long-term disability benefits, the employer will not dismiss him on the basis of his continuing incapacity to perform.

Disability discrimination

The EAT has held that it was not disability discrimination to dismiss an employee with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and associated amnesia for shoplifting. This was because the employee was dismissed because he had a tendency to bargain and, as this is an excepted condition, he did not have a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act.

These updates are important to employment lawyers in London.