Employment & Pensions - How we do it
in-house advocacy
| 24-hour advice line
annual retainer scheme | healthchecks
professional support lawyer
The Employment and Pensions team has an outstanding reputation for advocacy. All employment tribunals (as well as appeals) are conducted by members of the team. For cases which are appealed to the Court of Session or House of Lords we have the benefit of an in-house Solicitor Advocate with rights of audience in these Courts, who has 20 years' experience in the field of employment law. This means that we do not have to pass over your case to a barrister or advocate, thereby ensuring that your costs are kept to a minimum and that the team member dealing with your case has intimate knowledge of that case and your organisation.
Problems need to be dealt with speedily and efficiently, whenever they arise. If you need 24 hour availability, ask us about our 24 hour cover. We will provide you with practical and reliable employment law advice, whenever you need it.
Are your policies, procedures and systems up to date? Are you taking advantage of the latest practical ideas for managing your workforce? The law changes constantly and contracts and procedures can quickly become out of date.
We are supported by extensive information systems and a dedicated Professional Support Lawyer to ensure we remain at the forefront of practical and legal developments in the field. We can provide clients with a full review of contracts from basic statements to sophisticated terms and conditions and Service Agreements for Directors and key personnel.
We will review your policy documents (which are essential in the modern business world to manage your employees' behaviour and expectations) to ensure that they are up to date and compliant with the law. We will also recommend and draft policies where gaps exist and assist you in introducing them.
Tribunals are not sympathetic to an employer who has failed to provide their employees with any or adequate documentation and this can often mean the difference between success and failure in defending claims.
Experience tells us that not all clients like to 'pay as you go' on an hourly rate. Many businesses have a budget for the legal spend and want to feel reassured that the clock is not always ticking when they contact our team for advice or for a second opinion on practical matters. We have found that it is helpful to many of our clients to sit down at the start of each year to agree an "all-in" fee for employment law advice on an annual basis. This is usually billed quarterly and offers you the peace of mind to lift the phone to one of our team without worrying that you are running up unexpected costs. At the end of the year we can provide you with a comparison between the agreed rate and an hourly charge - and take that into account in the setting of the next year's retainer.
We are happy to discuss fee arrangements with you on an individual basis.
We have a dedicated Professional Support Lawyer ("PSL") resource within the Employment and Pensions team who has over 10 years' experience of practising as an employment lawyer. Our PSL provides knowhow, technology and training solutions to our team and to clients, working closely with clients to identify needs and provide solutions including access to knowhow, secure extranet sites, tailored client bulletins, and automated documents.
For further information please contact :
employmentpensions@mcgrigors.com
Employment & Pensions