Joanna is an experienced employment lawyer and heads up the Employment Team in our London office.
She has worked in the legal sector since 2007 and has a wealth of experience in all aspects of employment law and HR matters. She advises employers, employees and self-employed contractors on anything and everything to do with the world of work, providing straightforward, sensible advice.
Joanna is extremely conscientious and prides herself on being approachable, down to earth and sympathetic. She genuinely cares about her clients and their needs and concerns and fights tirelessly to get the results that they want.
She is a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 which praises her “excellent interpersonal skills”, “calming demeanour” that “immediately puts one at ease”, for being “extremely helpful and responsive”, “very practical” and “straight talking and professional, with steely edge”.
Joanna has significant experience in preparing and negotiating high value Settlement Agreements and mutually agreeable exits for senior executives in the City, particularly in the insurance and financial service sector.
She often prepares and advises on employment contracts and handbooks, including restrictive covenants and post termination restrictions and non-compliance enforcement action in the event of breach, with great success.
Joanna is a sought after public speaker at seminars and events and is frequently called upon to provide specialist training and provide expert commentary on the radio and television on topical employment law issues.
She is highly recommended by the Infant Loss Foundation for advising bereaved parents. She also has extensive experience in advising on discrimination and sexual harassment at work.
Joanna works closely with the Commercial Property and Corporate and Commercial Teams to handle the employment aspects of commercial transactions such as Asset Purchases and Share Purchases including undertaking due diligence enquiries, analysing employee information and drafting provisions in the corporate documentation as well as standalone documents such as Consultancy Agreements, Directors Service Agreements, and Settlement Agreements.
She also has vast experience in data protection matters and advises clients on GDPR compliance, subject access requests, data protection breaches and data processing agreements.
Joanna’s recent experience includes:
- Successfully negotiating a six figure settlement sum in a whistleblowing claim for a senior executive in the financial services sector;
- Leading on the employment aspects of the acquisition of 20 Costa Coffee stores;
- Successfully defending an Employment Tribunal claim for sex discrimination, disability discrimination and sexual harassment on behalf of a well-known luxury retailer;
- Advising a professional sporting team on allegations of sexual orientation discrimination made by its players.