Nigel advises both employers and employees on all areas of employment law including contract and benefits negotiation, termination of employment, discrimination, whistleblowing, TUPE, disciplinary and grievance issues, team moves, and post-termination restraints, share and partnership disputes, LLPs and private equity/venture capital issues.
His practice covers a range of different sectors including financial and professional services, retail, fashion, education, recruitment, sport, property, publishing, health and hospitality.
Among his clients are household names and high-profile senior executives who frequently attract coverage in the financial press.
Nigel is also an experienced litigator with a strong track record in fighting substantial employment disputes in the courts and tribunals. He is a passionate supporter of mediation and has successfully represented clients in over 40 mediated cases.
Expertise
- Drafting and advising on service agreements, contracts of employment, variations, policies and consultancy contracts
- Advising on and conducting disciplinary proceedings and grievances
- Acting for CEOs and other senior executives in contract or departure negotiations
- Advising on and negotiating benefits including buy-outs, bonus and share options
- Advising management in private equity and venture capital transactions
- Conducting unfair dismissal, discrimination and whistleblowing claims for employer and employee
- Maternity issues
- Post-termination restraints and injunctive relief
- Redundancies and business reorganisations
- Team moves
- Partnership and shareholder issues
- Outsourcing and TUPE
- Settlement agreements
- Stress and bullying claims
- Employee status
- LLP agreements and hedge funds
- Agency and Commercial Agents Regulations
- Mediation
- Acting for doctors in disciplinary matters
Experience
Contracts & Other Arrangements
- Acted for a departing A member of a leading PE Group and negotiating complex carry and coinvestment arrangements.
- Acted for the management team in a leading payment processing company, advising on service contracts and private equity arrangements.
- Drafted contracts for an FX, payments and currency card business.
Employment Disputes
- Represented Faria Alam against the FA.
- Represented a well-known holiday company in its successful defence of a disability claim.
- Acted in major whistleblowing cases for a hedge fund manager and a head of UK tax compliance.
- Acted in litigation for a major shareholder of a cosmetic surgery business following a private equity acquisition.
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Dealt with employment issues on the acquisition by Fred Perry of Lavenham Leisure.
- Acted for CEOs on their joining, respectively, a leading fashion retailer, a household-name courier company, a multinational retailer, and a well-known listed kitchen and joinery supplier.
- Represented a US firm of patent agents and advised on TUPE issues arising from a UK acquisition.
Team Moves & Terminations
- Advised a senior hedge fund manager on his move to a rival hedge fund and his LLP arrangements.
- Advised a head of desk moving from one inter dealer broker to another.
- Advised three senior members of the Corporate and Investment Management team of a leading Wall Street Bank on their exit and startup business through to sale.
Other
- Advised the management team of a household-name motoring association in connection with its IPO.
- Acted for numerous CEOs and CFOs in household-name PLCs.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised by The Legal 500 2023 for Employment: Senior Executives
Recognised by The Legal 500 2022 for Employment: Senior Executives
“Nigel Forsyth continues to be an outstanding practitioner in the art of employment law. Often needing to pivot to see all views, Nigel is just such a formidable competitor ( but in the most charming way possible) that he almost makes the moves for the opposition or certainly predicts it.” The Legal 500 2022
Recognised by The Legal 500 2021 for Employment: Senior Executives
Recognised in the Legal 500 2018 for Employment: Employers and Senior Executives
Career
Nigel qualified as a solicitor in 1979. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2017, he worked at the following firms:
- Wallace
- Speechly Bircham
- Devonshires