Ilana has more than 20 years’ experience advising companies and individuals on all aspects of employment law including litigation, corporate transactions and advisory work.
Ilana has advised employers ranging in size from SMEs to multinationals in sectors such as Media, Financial Services, Advertising, Professional Services, Education and Charitable Activity. She regularly advises on all employment matters including organisational restructures, disciplinaries and grievances, discrimination claims, restrictive covenants, managed exits and termination packages, and she has spent time working as part of in-house employment law teams at Bear Stearns and Citigroup.
Ilana represents clients in Employment Tribunal proceedings and High Court claims, and advises on corporate transactions including as mergers, disposals, share sales and TUPE.
Expertise
- Restructurings including strategic planning, collective and individual redundancy consultations
- Employment advisory including disciplinaries and grievances
- Discrimination law and equality law
- Confidential information, restrictive covenants, and enforceability
- Managed exits for co-founders and senior employees
- Termination packages for executives and employees
- Directors’ service agreements, consultancy agreements, other workplace contracts and policies
- Whistleblowing
- Family-related leave and long-term sickness absence
- Employment litigation in the Employment Tribunal and High Court
- TUPE, consultation obligations and transactions-related employment law advice
Experience
Recruitment and Contracts
- Negotiated, drafted and advised on directors’ service agreements, contracts of employment, staff handbooks and policies.
- Reviewed workplace policies and procedures.
- Negotiated, drafted and reviewed consultancy agreements including for a charitable foundation and charity focusing on the provision of education.
- Advised on set-up.
- Advised on the employment status of individuals working on an ad hoc basis and engaged via an app.
Ongoing Operations
- Navigated and implemented strategic workforce planning.
- Advised in relation to employees who are absent from work due to stress or other workplace issues.
- Advised on workplace underperformance, disciplinary and grievances.
- Managed out poor performers.
- Advised on flexible working and requests for returning to work following maternity or other statutory leave.
- Advised a senior employee who was suspended for publicly complaining about acts taken by their employer, a leading arts institution.
- Represented an employee who was absent from work following a brain tumour, his claim relating to disability discrimination and his successful return to the workplace.
Organisational Restructures
- Advised a cultural arts centre on its merger and restructuring and the requirement to collectively consult about the redundancies.
- Advised various entities including two large advertising agencies, three charities, a production company, a nursery and a number of other entities about undertaking a redundancy exercise.
- Advised individuals on exit arrangements whose roles were redundant following an organisational restructure.
Terminations and Exits
- Advised a technology company, charity and a production company (amongst others) on the departure of underperforming senior employees.
- Advised a radio production company and a brand design agency on the departure of an underperforming founding shareholder.
- Negotiated departure arrangements and severance packages for senior executives, with experience of representing both the companies and the employees.
- Acted for a leading construction and recruitment and logistics business to enforce post-termination restrictions against departed employees acting in breach of their obligations.
- Enforced restrictive covenants in relation to departed employees who set up in competition and solicited and dealt with former clients for clients in various sectors including a brand design agency, a bespoke wedding and party planner, an insurance provider, a printing business, and a leading sports agency.
- Negotiated severance packages and settlement agreements and managed the departure of employees of all levels of seniority, including CEOs, CFOs, managing directors and statutory directors.
- Defended a charity focusing on science and technology research on the departure of a consultant and related matters, including a spurious claim for defamation and breach of contract.
- Negotiated severance packages for employees of all levels of seniority who raised claims of race, sex and age discrimination, whistleblowing, unfair dismissal and constructive unfair dismissal.
Employment Tribunal and High Court Litigation
- Successfully led and managed Employment Tribunal proceedings including:
- Represented Bear Stearns on its successful defence of a disability discrimination and unfair dismissal claim.
- Represented an insurance company in a claim it issued against a former employee acting in breach of post-termination restrictions (claim settled out of court).
- Advised an inter-dealer broker regarding a team move and breach of post-termination restrictions (claim settled before the court delivered its judgment).
- Represented an individual in a claim for breach of contract and unlawful deduction from wages (settled out of court for a substantial six-figure sum).
- Advised a sports agency in a claim for breach of post-termination restrictions (claim settled out of court for a substantial sum).
- Defended a charitable entity in a claim brought by a former employee for unfair dismissal.
- Advised a charitable entity in a claim for race and religious discrimination brought by a former employee.
- Conducted claims for discrimination, whistleblowing, breach of post-termination restrictions, injunctions, unfair dismissal and breach of contract.
Corporate Transactions
- Advised EDF on the employment aspects of its £12.5 billion takeover of British Energy and the £5.8 billion disposal of its networks distribution business.
- Collaborated with corporate colleagues to provide employment law corporate support on the employment law aspects of share and asset transactions, including the sale of an ice-cream business, the transfer of employees pursuant to TUPE for a leading telecommunications company, management of TUPE issues on intra-group transfers, and drafting warranties and indemnities for inclusion in transactional documentation.
- Advised on TUPE including information and consultation process.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Career
Ilana qualified as a solicitor in 2002. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2017, she worked at the following firms:
- Halebury
- Herbert Smith