Antonia Blackwell > Shoosmiths LLP > Birmingham, England > Lawyer Profile

Antonia Blackwell

03700 864087 antonia.blackwell@shoosmiths.co.uk View profile View profile

Work Department

Employment

Position

Antonia is an experienced employment lawyer providing commercially focused advice to businesses and individuals on all aspects of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious, including proactively managing Employment Tribunal claims and providing pragmatic advice on a broad range of HR issues such as disciplinary and grievance procedures, discrimination complaints, business reorganisations, executive severance issues, union related matters and the application and effect of TUPE.

Throughout her career, Antonia has advised across a variety of sectors, especially retail, manufacturing and logistics, working with many household names. Her particular specialism is in negotiating indemnities and warranties for business transfer agreements and outsourcing projects in a commercial manner whilst retaining key protection for her clients.

Recent work handled by Antonia includes:

• negotiating indemnities and warranties in various outsourcing agreements between an international service provider and several financial institutions covering up to 88 jurisdictions;
• advising on a national reorganisation programme including the approach to consultation and providing training to up-skill the HR officers on the process to be followed;
• successfully representing a major logistics client in defending six separate employment tribunal claims brought against it by a serial litigant, including various discrimination complaints, ensuring that all claims were struck out by the Employment Tribunal at a preliminary stage;
• advising a major logistics client on various union issues including voluntary recognition agreements, pay disputes and threatened strike action;
• updating a major retail client’s HR Manual, handbook and employment contracts and advising on the implementation process.

Antonia’s understanding of the key challenges facing her clients allows her to write and present both bespoke and general training programmes, in addition to regularly speaking at externally organised events.

Career

Antonia trained at Veale Wasbrough Lawyers, Bristol before joining Shoosmiths in Nottingham as a newly qualified solicitor in 1999. She moved to DLA Piper in Birmingham where she was promoted to associate in 2005, but rejoined Shoosmiths in 2007 and was made senior associate in 2011 and legal director in 2018.