Mr Joe Thornhill > Ward Hadaway LLP > Newcastle upon Tyne, England > Lawyer Profile

Mr Joe Thornhill

Work Department

Employment

Position

Consultant 

Career

Joe is a Consultant in the Employment team at Ward Hadaway, based in the Newcastle office.

Joe has specialised in employment and regulatory issues for more than 25 years and is Ward Hadaway’s lead in the management and delivery of employment advice and assistance prior to dismissal.

He is responsible for management of the firm’s insurance-based employment law package of services.

Joe’s focus is on providing advice and assistance devoted to achieving the appropriate outcome with limited exposure to Employment Tribunal litigation.

Often the cost in both management time and legal fees associated with Employment Tribunal litigation is such that the management of a dismissal, grievance, redundancy or other employment situation can only properly be described as having been successful if the result is that Employment Tribunal litigation is never commenced

Joe is widely recognised as an expert in managing complex dismissals, grievances and discrimination matters in order to guide organisations through the legal process to avoid litigation.

A very detailed case in which Joe has been very closely involved in recent months involved the dismissal of a company’s CEO due to allegations of complex financial irregularities with the employee contending that his dismissal was due to protected interest disclosures and disability discrimination.

Joe is regularly involved in organisational restructuring involving redundancies and TUPE transactions within and between both the public and private sector.

He has considerable experience in managing collective consultation which is necessary in large scale redundancy and TUPE matters.

Joe is currently involved in advising on the complex TUPE and redundancy aspects of a demerger/separation of the UK division of a US listed operation.

Should issues result in litigation, Joe has considerable experience managing all types of cases within the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

He has considerable advocacy experience in the Employment Tribunal. A recent case involved Joe successfully defending a claim in the Reading Employment Tribunal against a claimant who contended that he had been subject to disability discrimination at the interview stage.