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Elizabeth Swinburn

Partner

Why choose me

I love the human interest element of employment law and helping people to manage and resolve an issue that they are facing. Given the constantly evolving nature of employment law, I strive to be mindful of issues relevant to clients to enable me to proactively manage their needs.

One client said that I was the best they had worked with in 40 years in HR and that I cared about the issue in hand as much as they did, my level of client commitment being truly exceptional. I mention that comment here to highlight that I genuinely do care about every single matter I handle, and I work efficiently alongside my clients to achieve their optimal outcome.

I work with a wide variety of clients, ranging from small to large businesses and individuals of all levels of seniority. This breadth and depth of experience and perspective equips me well to guide an individual through a difficult patch of their careers, right through to helping a large employer navigate a matter involving multiple employees.

Working in this field makes me acutely aware that many people struggle at some point in their careers and employers often similarly struggle with how to handle the situation. This can have deeply damaging consequences for everyone involved. Please contact me to see how I can help.

I advise on contracts of employment and service agreements, policies, changing contractual terms, family friendly, long-term sickness, performance, disciplinary and grievance issues and termination of employment, including settlement agreements.

My litigation work includes employment tribunal cases involving unfair and wrongful dismissal, discrimination, breach of contract, unlawful deduction from wages and whistleblowing. I also advise on business reorganisation and restructuring, redundancy, business protection and TUPE.

Outside of work I enjoy gardening, antiques, visiting historical places and spending time with my family – including my two beloved miniature schnauzers.

Contact details

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Teams I work with

I love the human interest element of employment law and helping people to manage and resolve an issue that they are facing. Given the constantly evolving nature of employment law, I strive to be mindful of issues relevant to clients to enable me to proactively manage their needs.

One client said that I was the best they had worked with in 40 years in HR and that I cared about the issue in hand as much as they did, my level of client commitment being truly exceptional. I mention that comment here to highlight that I genuinely do care about every single matter I handle, and I work efficiently alongside my clients to achieve their optimal outcome.

I work with a wide variety of clients, ranging from small to large businesses and individuals of all levels of seniority. This breadth and depth of experience and perspective equips me well to guide an individual through a difficult patch of their careers, right through to helping a large employer navigate a matter involving multiple employees.

Working in this field makes me acutely aware that many people struggle at some point in their careers and employers often similarly struggle with how to handle the situation. This can have deeply damaging consequences for everyone involved. Please contact me to see how I can help.

I advise on contracts of employment and service agreements, policies, changing contractual terms, family friendly, long-term sickness, performance, disciplinary and grievance issues and termination of employment, including settlement agreements.

My litigation work includes employment tribunal cases involving unfair and wrongful dismissal, discrimination, breach of contract, unlawful deduction from wages and whistleblowing. I also advise on business reorganisation and restructuring, redundancy, business protection and TUPE.

Outside of work I enjoy gardening, antiques, visiting historical places and spending time with my family – including my two beloved miniature schnauzers.

Related services and specialisms from HCR Law

Questions my clients ask me

There is no statutory entitlement for an employee to receive a reference, but if one is provided by the employer it must be accurate, fair and not misleading. The employer must also ensure that any failure to provide a reference for an employee is not discriminatory.

The general rule is that each party bears their own costs, but the Employment Tribunal is empowered to award costs where a party has acted ‘vexatiously, abusively, deceptively or otherwise unreasonably’ or the proceedings issued are deemed to be misconceived.

One option is for the parties to enter into a settlement agreement. This is a binding contract used to mutually and amicably agree terms to end an employee’s employment. This provides protection for the employer against claims from the employee and, usually, the employee receives payment of an agreed financial sum.

Read what my clients say about me

Elizabeth is quite simply an outstanding employment lawyer.  From the outset her knowledge, expertise and guidance instilled confidence and trust, putting me completely at ease and transformed a very stressful employment situation into a very manageable one.

She is a great listener, very easy to talk to, super patient & empathetic with an innate ability to quickly pinpoint successful strategies to secure resolution.

I cannot thank her enough for all her efforts in helping me successfully resolve my employment situation

Client Unfair dismissal

Elizabeth Swinburn is knowledgeable, objective and personal and her advice is impeccable.

Legal 500 – Elizabeth Swinburn

It has been a great pleasure to work with Liz Swinburn. As a small charity with only a small number of staff and run by a group of enthusiastic but very busy volunteer Trustees, we found ourselves with some significant interlinked workforce issues with three of our staff.

We consulted Liz for expert advice and practical help in dealing with a difficult situation including two potential employment tribunal claims. We expected expert knowledge from Liz which did not disappoint, but what we also got was someone who listened to our story, asked pertinent questions, and made sure that she therefore gained a full understanding of our situation.

Only once Liz had understood the whole picture did she feel able to offer the best legal advice possible. Fortunately, it did not stop simply at legal advice but also pragmatic commercial advice as to what was possible within the law and what was best for our organisation.

We found this the most helpful part of our interaction with Liz. We were able to fully understand the complex legal framework and feedback to our fellow Trustees when we had to make decisions on the best route to follow. All of this was conducted with the minimum of fuss and in a timely manner including dealing with ACAS.

For us that meant that, even though claims were submitted against us, we always felt in full control of the process and able to dictate terms. The conclusion of the issues was very satisfactory and protected the charity from any major pay-outs or litigation. Liz is great to work with, has expert knowledge and great empathy with us as clients. It was almost a pity to conclude the cases since it was so refreshing to work with Liz and refresh our knowledge of employment law.

We would thoroughly recommend Liz to anyone seeking advice on employment matters.

Charity Trustees Employment Issues

Awards and endorsements

Legal 500 – Leading Individual 2024

Legal 500 – Leading Individual 2024

Legal updates and thought leadership

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