Helen is an experienced employment lawyer with a comprehensive practice that spans all areas of contentious and non-contentious employment work, in addition to the employment aspects that are associated with corporate transactional work. She advises on the range of issues that occur throughout the employment process from recruitment through to termination.
Throughout her career, Helen has advised employers and employees, supporting businesses and advising and representing executives, partners and every other form of employee or worker. She is particularly skilled in representing clients in both the Employment Tribunal and in the High Court.
Helen has a special interest in the law as it relates to agency workers and the regulation of employment businesses. She is also a regular speaker at industry seminars and workshops.
I would rate my business relationship with Helen and the service she offers to her customers as outstanding. Her explanations are clear, concise and decision-oriented. She never avoided difficult topics and I always understood what my options were...She was accessible, her charges were fair, and as a person I found her a pleasure to deal with. I admire and respect Helen very much, professionally and personally. I would unreservedly recommend her to your organisation.
Jill Woodley
Former Client, RetiredFrom the moment we first talked I knew I was in safe hands and beyond the legal side of things, Helen was an incredible voice of calm and reason throughout. She gave me a lot of the confidence I needed just to drive through to the finish.
Caroline Whaley
MD, Tiger for a Day and co-founder of Shine for Women
Expertise
- Agency workers and the recruitment industry
- Corporate support
- Employment law
- Employment contracts
- Restrictive covenants
- Discrimination law
- TUPE
- Restructuring and redundancy
- Statutory benefits
- Dispute resolution
- Employment Tribunals
- Bullying and harassment
- Settlement agreements
- Whistleblowing
Experience
- Successfully resisted a claim for payment in lieu of notice and compensation in excess of £75,000 under the terms of a settlement agreement on the basis of the claimant’s repudiatory conduct or, in the alternative, rescission of the agreement based on her fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation.
- Obtained a rare re-engagement order for a client against a government department as a consequence of an unfair dismissal. During the 2012/2013 tax year, of more than 10,000 unfair dismissal cases disposed of at a hearing, only 5 claimants received a re-engagement or reinstatement order.
- Assisted a household-name furniture retailer to restructure, with the closure of 8 retail outlets and the loss of 100 jobs.
- Brought proceedings on behalf of a female banker against a top-5 investment bank in respect of sex discrimination, unfair dismissal, victimisation, harassment, and whistleblowing claims. Settled at mediation for a seven-figure sum.
- Successfully prosecuted a claim for constructive dismissal and race/sex discrimination in which acts of interference with witnesses during the course of proceedings were pleaded as additional acts of victimisation.
- Negotiated a compromise agreement over an 18-month period relating to the termination of a fixed-term contract with 10 months left to run, for which the remuneration value in that period would have been £3 million.
- Assisted a small US-based software company to take over the management of a product inventory for a global company in Europe, involving service provision changes in 4 European jurisdictions.
- Provided advice on employment aspects of an acquisition by Chopstix Roadside on a number of restaurants in the UK.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Career
Helen qualified as a solicitor in 1997. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2017, she worked at the following firms:
- Spencer Wyatt
- Goodman Derrick