Matt Freeman

Matt advises on directors’ service agreements, senior executive appointments, and exits, including negotiating departures, supporting recruitment of senior leaders, and drafting and updating directors’ service agreements for organisations and boards.

• Advised on sensitive senior executive exit negotiations.
• Advised on issues relating to senior executive hires.
• Drafted directors’ service agreements.

Matt advises on disciplinary and grievance procedures, including complex workplace investigations, contentious employee disputes, and the development and review of grievance and disciplinary policies.

• Advised on complex disciplinary issues.
• Advised on contentious grievance issues.
• Advised on grievance and disciplinary policies

Matt advises on discrimination matters, including complex disputes involving religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation discrimination, often handling sensitive allegations, appeals, and high-profile workplace claims.

• Advised on complex religion or belief discrimination dispute including numerous appeal hearings.
• Advised on sex discrimination dispute involving allegations against senior executives.
• Advised on a high-profile sexual orientation discrimination dispute.

Matt advises on employment contracts, workplace policies, and staff handbooks, including policy reviews, implementation of new policies, and material issues arising from developments in employment law.

• Advised on detailed reviews of employment policies.
• Advised on sensitive employment policy issues relating to the decision in For Women Scotland.
• Advised on the implementation of a new suite of family-friendly policies.

Matt advises on employment tribunal matters, including unfair dismissal claims, whistle-blowing allegations, discrimination claims, Acas conciliation processes, and strategic management of tribunal litigation, helping organisations navigate complex and contentious workplace disputes.

• Advised on complex discrimination claims.
• Advised on numerous pre-claim Acas conciliations.
• Advised on internal strategy relating to tribunal claims.

Matt advises on employment and regulatory matters involving Financial Conduct Authority requirements, including conduct rule issues, regulatory references, and regulatory concerns relating to recruitment.

• Advised on establishing a panel to determine whether disciplinary actions taken within the business constituted reportable FCA conduct rule breaches.
• Advised on issues relating to regulatory references.
• Advised on hiring issues with potential regulatory concerns.

Matt advises on performance and absence management issues, supporting employers with capability concerns, sickness absence matters, and manager training on effective workplace management processes.

• Advised on performance management issues.
• Advised on sickness absence issues.
• Trained managers and HR on performance management and sickness absence issues.

Matt advises on redundancy and restructuring matters, including large-scale redundancy programmes, consultation with unions and employee representatives, and the development of redundancy policies.

• Advised on complex and sensitive redundancy programmes.
• Advised on union and employee representative body consultation issues.
• Advised on redundancy policies.

Matt advises on restrictive covenants and post-termination restrictions, including High Court litigation, team move disputes, recruitment issues involving senior executives, and the drafting of enforceable contractual protections.

• Advised on a claim in the High Court protecting a company against an unlawful team move.
• Advised on hiring issues for senior executives subject to restrictive covenants.
• Rewrote and simplified restrictive covenants in template executive service agreements and employee contracts of employment.

Matt advises on settlement agreements, including high-value executive departures, sensitive workplace exits, and negotiated resolutions, helping employers and senior executives manage complex employment disputes and termination arrangements.

• Drafted complex settlement agreements for senior executives, with severance payments up to in excess of £10m.
• Negotiated high-profile and sensitive exits.
• Drafted template settlement agreements for clients.

Matt advises on TUPE issues arising from business sales, acquisitions, outsourcings, and internal restructures, supporting employers on workforce transfers, organisational change, and employee consultation requirements.

• Advised on a complex business division via TUPE transfer in advance of sale to three separate buyers.
• Advised on TUPE issues in numerous M&A transactions.
• Advised on TUPE transfers across internal operating companies.

Matt advises on unfair dismissal matters, supporting employers in defending and resolving employment tribunal claims and managing disputes arising from dismissal decisions.

• Advised on defending and resolving unfair dismissal claims in the employment tribunal.

Matt advises on whistleblowing matters, including employment tribunal claims, internal investigations, and the resolution of sensitive disclosures arising during disciplinary, restructuring, and other workplace processes.

• Advised on sensitive employment tribunal claims alleging whistleblowing.
• Advised on whistleblowing allegations during internal disciplinary and restructuring processes.
• Advised on settlement of complex whistleblowing allegations.

Member of the Employment Lawyers Association