The 'professional' Nick Vernon, who 'has his clients' best interests at heart and works hard to find a solution', now spearheads the employment practice at Shoosmiths LLP, as Charlie Rae has moved to TLT. Vernon advises businesses on the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment matters. Areas of expertise include advising on business-critical/senior executive hires, as well as complicated TUPE matters. Clients are predominantly large companies and organisations, but the firm also acts for senior executives.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Laura Wright, Steph Pye and Michelle Clark are very helpful, informative, and have helped with different issues of varying complexity. They are responsive, approachable and available.’
‘Nick Vernon has taken the time to understand our business so that the advice he gives is tailored to us. Nick provides good sound advice in a no-nonsense way.’
‘Jo Tunnicliff – I find her quick to respond and pragmatic in her approach. Jo has taken the time to understand our business dynamic and culture which enables her to give advice that is practical and with a commercial consideration.’
‘The organisation is very responsive, accessible, engaged and they communicate promptly. The organisation has a good level of organisational knowledge and an understanding of how we operate and the advice received is always pragmatic.'
‘Pav Clair has been nothing short of excellent in his continued support, his relentless pursuit of solutions. ’
‘The practice has a unique ability to scale up resource quickly and at short notice, collaborating together to pull out all the stops when something is needed urgently.’
‘Nick Vernon possesses a real ability to simplify complex legal concepts to ensure clarity in discussions. His pragmatic approach emphasises proactive problem solving and prioritises practical solutions. Nick consistently delivers a first-class service.'
- 'Michelle Clarke demonstrates exceptional pragmatism, consistently offering valuable advice when faced with complex challenges.'
Key clients
- Kuehne + Nagel
- Aramark
- The Law Society
- Virgin Media O2
- Freight Investor Services
- Jensten Group
- Randstad Solutions
- Linnaeus Group
- The National Exhibition Centre
- Royal Institute of British Architects
Work highlights
Advised the administrators of high-street retailer Wilko on the copious employment issues relating to the administration (involving over 12,000 employees).
Supported a major client with an organisation-wide restructure exercise, which resulted in over 1,000 redundancies.
Provided extensive advice to a locally prominent organisation on a complex and sensitive grievance and counter grievance raised by senior managers involving allegations of discrimination, bullying and whistleblowing.
Lawyers
Next generation partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Practice head
Nick Vernon
Other key lawyers
Laura Wright; Pav Clair; Michelle Clark; Stephanie Pye; Jo Tunnicliff