Our employment, pensions and incentives (EPI) practice offers expert advice on the full range of employment and human resources issues. Clients are able to draw on the expertise of 10 partners, 26 associates and three dedicated professional support lawyers to provide them with a fully integrated service. Ours is one of the largest and best resourced practices in the UK.
We regularly advise asset and investment management firms and hedge funds, concentrating primarily on issues such as recruitment, retention, reward and incentivisation. We are often instructed to design bespoke retention and incentive arrangements for our financial services clients including an appropriate mix of:
- restrictive covenants;
- cash bonuses; and
- short and long-term equity incentives;
together with providing advice on setting fund and firm performance targets.
We are also considered to be the premier practice for complex contentious employment matters involving high value/high risk employment tribunal work and High Court actions including injunctions and bonus disputes (including discrimination claims). We are also the "go-to" practice in respect of advice on team moves and poaching.
Our EPI practice operates both within and outside of the UK. We provide clients with a global service through the various offices of Herbert Smith and our Alliance partners (each of which has leading employment practices in their own right).
Key contact profiles
Andrew Taggart
Partner, employment group, London
Andrew is a partner and solicitor advocate who advises on all aspects of employment law. Andrew has considerable experience of the employment law issues in corporate transactions (from both a UK and International perspective). He regularly advises a range of employers on the employment law aspects of regulatory investigations and disputes with trade unions.
Paul Ellerman
Partner, employee incentives group, London
Paul is head of the firm's employee incentives group, having established a wide range of incentive schemes for a large number of quoted and unquoted companies. In addition, he has advised on the share scheme aspects of many takeovers, flotations, demergers and schemes of arrangement. He has been very active in the development of international share schemes, helping to establish various types of share incentive arrangements in numerous countries worldwide.
Tim Leaver
Partner, employment group, London
Tim is a partner in the employment department. He advises on a wide range of employment issues, both contentious and non-contentious. Contentious work includes claims in the Employment Tribunal (such as unfair dismissal and unlawful discrimination) and in the High Court (such as complex bonus/incentives disputes and injunctions). Non-contentious work includes drafting service agreements, negotiating complex executive terminations, team moves, advising on employment aspects of business transfers and reorganisations (including collective redundancies), directors' disputes and general HR advisory matters.
Mark Ife
Partner, employee incentives group, London
Mark is a partner in the firm's employee incentives group, and advises on the establishment and continuing operation of a variety of cash- and share-based incentive arrangements for both listed and private companies. In addition, he advises on incentives taxation and the share schemes of corporate actions, including takeovers, IPOs, schemes of arrangement, rights issues and demergers.
"At a time when the design of new schemes is an ongoing trend, Herbert Smith has maintained its market share of this type of work and has seen an increase in the amount of corporate work undertaken"
Chambers UK 2007
"Clients turn to the employment department of this proactive firm for its commercially focused service and its well-structured team with great strength across the specialisations"
Chambers UK 2007
"The group continues to leverage off its powerful reputation for, and 'tactical mastery' of, contentious work, it also cuts a swathe in advisory matters and corporate transactions"
Chambers UK 2007
"The firm itself is known for its strength in funds work and the team is no different, undertaking a great deal of hedge fund work and excelling in complex financial analysis"
Chambers UK 2008