Our Work

The Employment Lawyers Association offers a range of services to its members, organised through its 5 committees.

At the helm of ELA is the Management Committee, elected from the membership by the members annually. The Management Committee steers the policy and direction of ELA and its membership services.

Informed comment on employment law changes, as they occur

ELA’s membership magazine, ELA Briefing, published 10 times a year, is our members’ primary recourse for commentary on employment law. Overseen by the Publishing Committee, it contains news, case reports, commentary and analysis on recent decisions and in-depth articles on issues of current concern, as well as providing a platform for all ELA members to air their views.

ELA also publishes regular updates on employment law changes, delivered as they occur by email to all its members.

Shaping future employment legislation

ELA has an important role in shaping and influencing employment legislation. Through the Legislative & Policy Committee, ELA, as well as responding to all Government consultations in the employment field, is regularly consulted about legislative proposals at the pre-consultation stages. It is because we have no political agenda that our views are so highly respected. ELA comments on the issues from the perspectives of both claimants and respondents. Our focus is not on what is helpful for employees or employers, but on law that works.

ELA’s recent responses to consultations are available in the Law & Practice section.

Training ELA members

As a not-for-profit organisation, ELA offers high quality training to its members at rates which are well below those of commercial training organisations. Some of our training, for example, our evening lectures which are run around the country, are free to members working in the voluntary and public sectors and barristers within their first two years of practice.

Our training is carefully tailored to the needs of practising employment lawyers by the ELA Training Committee. We often work in collaboration with the employment law network of professional support lawyers (PEN) to ensure that our training offers added practical value and to research and update our training materials.

Our comprehensive training programme offers basic level training for newcomers to the field, through to expert standard ‘brainstorming’ sessions on topical areas of concern to practitioners. Training is run on every aspect of employment law, for example, trade union law and industrial action, TUPE and corporate transactions, all aspects of discrimination law, dispute resolution, as well as training in employment tribunal litigation and advocacy.

Many of the lecture notes from past ELA training are available in the Law & Practice section.

Work in the community

One of the aims of ELA is to serve the wider community. Many members are willing to give their time without charge to help those who would otherwise have no access to justice. ELA’s Pro Bono Committee has forged strong links with pro bono organisations through which ELA members have many opportunities to work on pro bono projects. ELA works closely with LawWorks to set up joint schemes with pro bono agencies, such as Law Centres, around the country.

ELA also contributes to the costs of running both the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the Free Representation Unit. Through these two organisations, ELA members have opportunities to volunteer to work on specific employment cases. Each year, the Pro Bono Committee organises an up-dater conference tailored specifically for, and free of charge to, those who work in the voluntary sector and trade unions. Unlike other ELA training events which are only available to members, this conference is open to anyone who works in the voluntary sector or a trade union.

The 2008 conference will be on Monday 30th June in London.

Further afield

The International Committee works to build on the profile and influence of ELA abroad. Representatives from the committee regularly visit the European institutions in Brussels in order to report back to members with developments in EU law and its effect on employment law in this country.

The Committee has also recently developed a structured programme of international employment law training sessions for ELA members. The next training session is on International Employment Tax, Social Security and Contractual Issues on 4th February 2008