Cambridge Employment Law LLP

Cambridge Employment Law LLP is a specialist employment law practice, advising both employers and employees. 

Our highly-rated lawyers have years of experience advising on the full range of HR issues – including disputes in the Tribunal and High Court. This means that we can get quickly to the key issues and can provide clear, no-nonsense advice. 

Whilst we limit ourselves to employment law and related issues, our client base is not limited either geographically, or by sector. We work with individuals, sole traders, global brands and everything in between including start-ups, established businesses, public companies and not-for-profit organisations. We are based near Cambridge but we have clients throughout the East of England, London and the UK.  Many of our clients have international operations and we work with firms throughout the world to meet their international needs.

• Grievance & Discipline:
  • Grievances and disciplinaries are so often time-consuming and disruptive for employees and management alike. Whether you are an organisation managing these processes, or an employee involved in them, at CEL we can help you through the  processes with the least possible difficulty.
• Pragmatic commercial specialists
  • Wherever possible, our starting point will be your ideal solution. We won’t beat about the bush or run up your costs. We will give you a practical and sensible recommendation for dealing with the problem you raise.
• Contracts & Handbooks
  • These are the foundations of any employment relationship.
    
    For individuals, we help negotiate the best possible contractual terms and advise on the effect of contracts already in place.
    
    For employers, we can review your documentation, make recommendations to give you the best protection and then keep you up to date with both changes in the law and best practice. Having clear, concise and up to date documentation will always put you in a better position whenever a problem arises – whether it’s termination provisions, bonus terms or the internet policy at issue.
• Discrimination
  • Potentially the most damaging source of disputes in the workplace, allegations of discrimination will always need to be handled sensitively but firmly. Whether you are an individual or an organisation we can help you engage proactively and constructively to achieve the best result for you.
• Dismissal, redundancy & retirement
  • Whether you’re dismissing or being dismissed, it is rare for the termination of employment to be an entirely smooth process. Sometimes – in a collective redundancy situation, for example – it will be important to stick to the letter of the law. At other times, a swift, low-key exit is what’s needed and that may involve taking calculated risks. We can advise on the appropriate process and the potential risks and rewards of any deviation.
• Employment Tribunals
  • The truth is that no-one ever wants to end up in an employment tribunal – even as a witness - but sometimes it is simply inevitable. We are a small, specialist firm, and this means that we can run tribunal claims from start to finish in a flexible, cost-effective way, giving you as much or as little assistance as you want. We can represent you at hearings or select the right barrister to do the advocacy if that’s more appropriate and better value. We will always keep tight control of our costs and your money, advising if and when it may be right to settle, and negotiating terms.
• Restrictive Covenants
  • It’s a commonly held belief that restrictive covenants aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Not true. If restrictive covenants are well-drafted - tailored to the employee in question and the particular damage they could do to the business were they to leave and join a competitor – they are very likely to be enforceable. We advise organisations on the enforceability of their existing covenants, negotiating amendments and acting to enforce the covenants where necessary, including applications for High Court injunctions. On the other side, we are instructed by individuals and teams wanting to understand their options and risks when faced with the choice of staying or leaving, for example, to join a competitor.
• Managing Change
  • Whether the ‘change’ is a restructuring or reorganisation (which may or may not involve redundancies), TUPE outsourcing of a function or perhaps changing or harmonising terms and conditions of employment, we have substantial experience advising on all aspects of change management.  This means that we can assist employers with every step from strategy to successful practical implementation. We can advise employee representatives on their role in collective consultation and individual employees on the effects of any change on them.
• Training
  • The lawyers at CEL are well-regarded public speakers on employment law and hold regular training sessions for employers and HR specialists based on what they need to know to perform their roles.  We also deliver practical and lively bespoke in-house training. The fact that the in-house training is bespoke means that your employees and managers will see the relevance to them and therefore are far more likely to put into practice what they have learnt.