What do employment lawyers do?
Firms may have separate teams that focus on employment, pensions and benefits work, whereas others may combine the three. On a transaction, these teams may, for example: review the employment contracts of key executives to ascertain whether those executives can terminate their contracts if the transaction goes ahead; assess whether there are any outstanding employment-related claims or issues that could result in costly disputes; and review a target company’s pensions arrangements (for instance, to check whether there is a large pension scheme deficit).
On a more standalone basis, employment and benefits lawyers are also typically responsible for: drafting employment contracts and settlement agreements; assisting with employee remuneration and incentivisation strategies (e.g. by helping clients to implement share schemes for key employees); advising on the recruitment and retention of employees; guiding clients through the processes that must be followed when disciplining or dismissing employees; and advising clients in relation to their compliance with employment law (which might include helping to draft staff handbooks and policies covering sick pay, maternity/paternity leave, expenses, annual leave etc.).
Pensions lawyers may be engaged to advise on a broad range of matters, including the implications of actions proposed by the trustees of pensions schemes, and the processes that must be followed when transferring or amalgamating pension schemes.
In a contentious context, Employment lawyers may advise on disputes relating to issues such as discrimination, unfair dismissal, whistleblowing or the soliciting of employees. These disputes could reach the Employment Tribunal, which might require the team to produce witness statements, review documents/evidence, write statements of case and engage barristers in preparation. Employment/pensions lawyers may also advise on restructurings and insolvencies, especially where these courses of action involve dismissing employees and creating redundancy packages.
Why do trainees enjoy employment seats?
The opportunity to get involved in a combination of transactional, contentious and advisory work, whilst gaining exposure to a cross-section of employment, pensions and benefits work, could indicate that this practice area will offer more variety than some of the others. It could also provide the opportunity to work for a wide range of clients, both on standalone matters and as a specialist advisor on corporate matters. Finally, you might be attracted to employment work on the basis that it has an inherently human element to it, as the work you carry out often directly affects individuals.
Note that we cover the role of employment lawyers in the context of a transaction in our A law firm's role on a transaction case study.
In addition, our M&A course includes explanations of some of the issues and processes that transactional lawyers often need to advise on, including how buyers might try to incentivise a target's employees post-acquisition.