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About me

My legal career began practising solely employment law, inspired by my time as a paralegal manager for the finance department at a multinational law firm. I most enjoyed my involvement in the HR aspects of this role as working closely with people has always been my passion.

This passion is what drives me now, as a lawyer, to build strong and lasting relationships with my clients and to take the time to truly understand their businesses. By doing this I am able to provide tailored, commercial advice and anticipate their future needs.

I constantly look for ways to add value for my clients, whether through providing training and updates in a specific area, or by undertaking specialised training myself so that I can provide them with more niche advice.

It was this desire to expand my offering to my clients which led me to diversify into business immigration law, and over a decade later I am now HCR’s Head of Immigration.

My specialisms include advising organisations of all sizes on the options available for bringing in students or employees from outside the UK, whether they are looking to become a sponsor licence holder or recruiting someone outside of the points-based system. I also offer assistance with right to work checks and mock compliance audits for both companies and educational institutions.

I have continued to practice as a specialist employment lawyer, where my areas of expertise include employment tribunal claims, reorganisations including redundancies, disciplinary and grievance procedures, and family-friendly rights.

There are occasions which require me to draw from both my employment and immigration knowledge, including TUPE transfers involving sponsored workers, hybrid or unusual working arrangements for employees on work visas, and most commonly, recruiting from outside the UK.

My Case studies

Top Tips & FAQs

Discover my top tips

Whether employment or immigration, seek legal advice early on - it can often save a lot of time and expense later on.

Always make contemporaneous notes of conversations you have with employees – you never know when it will be required/come in useful later on.

When you enter into a Contract of Employment, hope for the best and plan/draft for the worst.

Read questions I’m frequently asked

I have an employee who has only been with us for 6 months and it is not working out, can I just terminate their employment?

Well, you could but it would not be without risk.

Employers are often aware of the magic two years’ service requirement an employee needs in order to be able to bring an unfair dismissal claim and so believe that they can easily dismiss employees who have less than 2 years’ service. However, what employers often forget is that an employee does not need any particular length of service in order to bring a claim for discrimination which can be less obvious (for example, an employee who has been off sick a lot may have an underlying issue which could be deemed to be a disability in employment law terms).

It is therefore helpful to discuss the particular circumstances with an employment lawyer before making a decision to dismiss – a 5/10 minute conversation at the outset could save you having to face the unenviable prospect of an Employment Tribunal claim later on!

How long does the application take to complete to become a licensed sponsor with the Home Office?

The application itself is completed online, is relatively straightforward and can take as little as half an hour to complete.

However, before you complete the online application you need to check that your business is eligible, be clear on the type of licence that you want to apply for and decide who within your organisation will be responsible for managing the sponsorship process.

Further, once the application is submitted you will only have 5 working days to submit the documents which are required to be provided in support of your application. This is plenty of time if you have your supporting documentation ready to send but, if you have pushed ahead with the online application and not collated the documents (which can take much longer and be more problematic than you may think), this can cause issues and add unnecessary time pressures.

When the potential repercussion is rejection of your application, it is important to get this right.

Is it a good time?

This is often asked by my colleagues, contacts and clients when I answer the telephone.

I always have time to speak with my colleagues, contacts and clients to try and help them resolve their employment law related queries!

My Latest Articles

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