Management Committee

The ELA Management Committee has oversight of all ELA's work. It decides on key matters in relation to the Association's strategy and policy. For example, the Committee decides on the direction of its membership service development, oversees the Association's finances and constitution, and has overall responsibility for ELA's administrative function.

The Management Committee gives guidance to each of ELA's sub-committees, all of whom report back to the Committee. All new initiatives undertaken by the sub-committees are authorised by the Committee.

The Management Committee is elected annually from the membership. Elections take place each spring.

Management Committee 2012-2014

Chair
Richard Fox

Richard is Head of Kingsley Napley’s Employment Department, having been with the firm since he qualified in 1986. He acts for corporates, organisations and employees in relation to the full range of employment issues, focusing in particular on confidentiality and restrictive covenants, executive pay, bonuses, severance arrangements, unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistle blowing, business reorganisation and redundancy.

He was formerly President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association (2000-02), have been Chair of ELA’s Legislative and Policy Subcommittee (2008-10) and Deputy Chair of ELA (2010-12).

He has been involved with ELA for approximately 17 years, the last 12 as a member of the Legislative & Policy Sub-Committee. He organised ELA’s ground-breaking Tribunal Monitoring Survey in 2006, which helped bring about the demise of the Statutory Dismissal Procedures. He has chaired numerous ELA sub-committees, most latterly the Resolving Workplace Disputes working party.

He believes passionately that ELA should be the collective voice of all employment lawyers, including those representing employers and employees, whether in the City of London, or throughout Britain. As Chair, he will continue to fight hard to make our voices heard.

Deputy Chair
Richard Linskell
Richard acts for employers and senior executives on the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment work from recruitment to termination, including contractual issues, bonuses, restrictive covenants, unfair dismissal and discrimination.. Regularly advising both sides in employment disputes (not at the same time!) puts him in an ideal position to represent the perspective of both respondent and claimant lawyers. He has acted in a number of reported cases and has extensive advocacy experience in Employment Tribunals and the EAT.

Richard has been has been on the Management Committee and Editorial Board of ELA Briefing for a number of years and regularly contributes articles to ELA Briefing and other journals. He is committed to working for ELA and believes that it has continuously improved over the years but it must continue to innovate in the services it provides and the ways existing services are delivered. Richard hopes to continue to contribute to ELA over the coming year and to making it both important and relevant to all parts of the membership, including increasing interest and participation in ELA in the regions and amongst those who still (incorrectly) see ELA as a respondent-focused organisation.

Treasurer
Damian Phillips
Damian is a Partner in the Employment Department of Darwin Gray LLP. He qualified in 1997 in a medium sized firm, undertaking a variety of mainly contentious areas of law. In 2002, he reinvented himself as a specialist employment lawyer at a large firm. He joined Hugh James in 2003, before joining Darwin Gray as a partner in 2009. He practises all aspects of employment law, having a particular interest in industrial relations. He is an experienced advocate. He provides pro bono assistance at Cardiff Law Centre and sits on the Board of Young Enterprise for Newport/Monmouthshire.

He has been the ELA rep for the past 4 years. During that time he has arranged many local training sessions and social events. He has also contributed fully to both ELA’s Management and Training Committees, regularly travelling to to attend monthly meetings in person. He has developed a good understanding of the function of ELA and its requirements. He wishes to continue contributing to ELA’s progress and he believes that his experience will put him in good stead to make a positive contribution.

Secretary
Fiona Bolton
Fiona is a partner in the employment team at Eversheds and undertakes a full range of contentious and non-contentious employment work. She has lectured and written on a number of employment law topics.

She has been actively involved in ELA for a number of years. Two years ago she was elected a member at large on the Management Committee and have attended Management Committee meetings regularly. She also regularly attends ELA events and has provided articles for ELA Briefing and spoken at ELA events, including speaking at ELA’s introductory session for newly-qualified solicitors and leading a session at an ELA Annual Conference.

She remains committed to ELA and welcomes the opportunity to continue to contribute to its work and to encourage a wider range of members to participate in ELA at all levels.

Editor, ELA Briefing
Anna Henderson
Anna is a PSL in the employment team at Herbert Smith Freehills, a position she has held since 2000. Before that, she was an employment lawyer at CMS Cameron McKenna, where she qualified in 1994. She also organises PEN, the national network for employment PSLs, which she co- founded in 2001.

She has been on the ELA Briefing Editorial Committee since 2001. She has actively participated in ELA’s Management Committee, as its London/SE Rep, since 2009. She has also contributed to several ELA legislative working parties over recent years and to the ELA Training Committee, including linking and chairing courses.

She has been a member of the ELA Briefing Editorial Committee since 2001 and has attended the vast majority of meetings in that period. She has regularly contributed editorial comments and written and sourced articles for it. She has a good understanding of the editorial process.

ELA's recent survey suggested that the Briefing was members' most valued service. Her aim is to continue providing a high quality journal focusing on practical issues as well as legal analysis. She also wants to encourage contributions from across the membership (regions, claimant/respondent, etc.) and highlight members' work in other areas eg L&P.

Chair, Training Committee
Gareth Brahams
Gareth first attended the ELA Annual Conference as a trainee in 1994 and it inspired him to become an employment lawyer.

He qualified in 1995. After stints at Capsticks and Eversheds he spent 10 years at Lewis Silkin. In May 2010 he set up the employment department at Stewarts Law LLP. He lead a team of 12 people. His practice covered acting for employees approximately two thirds of the time and for employers (mostly SMEs) the rest of the time. Gareth is now Managing Partner at Brahams Dutt Badrick French LLP. Gareth has been a member of ELA’s Training Committee for nine years and its Chair for three years. In that time, the Committee has maintained the high quality of technical sessions (including devising the High Court course) whilst also innovating popular skills based training (such as Andy Bounds’ course on marketing); diversified committee membership to ensure all constituencies within ELA are represented; and democratised the selection of speakers and content.

Gareth will work to continue to maintain the excellent quality and great value of both our technical and skills based training, inspiring all members to become more expert in all aspects of their roles.

Chair, Legislative & Policy Committee
Bronwyn McKenna
Bronwyn is a solicitor admitted in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland. She works in-house at UNISON, doing a mixture of claimant and respondent work. Prior to moving in-house, she was an Assistant Solicitor at Slaughter and May.

She has extensive experience of collective and individual employment litigation in the UK and European Courts. She has particular expertise in the areas of discrimination, equal pay and information and consultation. She writes widely on employment law issues and is a frequent conference speaker including recent ELA, ILS and ABA events. In 2002 she was appointed to the CAC. Bronwyn has been Chair of the Legislative & Policy committee since 2010 - a particularly busy time for L&P. Her priorities include ensuring that ELA’s non partisan voice is heard on the Review of ET rules and all relevant consultations. She chaired sub-committees on the Equality Duty, Red Tape Challenge and the Flexible, Effective, Fair consultations.

She broadened participation in L&P’s work particularly by members outside London or in the early stages of their career. Regular communications and surveys have been disseminated to update the wider membership on L&P’s work.

Successes this year have included legislators responding to practitioners’ concerns on s.147 of the Equality Act.

Chair, Pro Bono Committee
Paul Daniels
Paul is a Partner at Slater & Gordon (UK) LLP and a fee paid employment judge in London South. He has been chair of the pro bono committee for several years now. He has a passion for access to justice as well as for finding ways to develop the skills of ELA members. In his time as Chair he believes the pro bono committee have strengthened pro bono activities and services for ELA members.

The pro bono committee have developed a successful 100 days project that matches ELA members with suitable pro bono/advocacy opportunities. They have strengthened links with pro bono bodies including FRU, the Bar Pro Bono Unit, Lawworks and others.

The committee plan to develop a mentoring project to give ELA pro bono volunteers access to guidance from barrister mentors and a programme to help Respondents offer unrepresented opponents “fast track” access to pro bono guidance on their case.

Chair, International Committee
Juliet Carp

Juliet is a Partner at law firm Speechly Bircham LLP. After qualifying with Simmons & Simmons in 1993, she joined Ernst & Young (latterly as Senior Manager in their client-facing Global Employment Solutions department), before joining Speechlys in 2002.

Her practice has always been international, and she has a particular interest in global mobility. She published the first, possibly only, textbook on “Drafting Employment Documents for Expatriates” in 2009. Memberships include EELA and ABA. Speechlys has a strong international practice with good relationships, but no rigid links, with employment lawyers overseas. They advise employers and senior executives.

Contributions since joining the ELA international committee (2008) include, eg: ELA workshop: drafting employment documents for expatriates; ABA/ELA conference: US/UK assignments session; visits; ELA briefing articles; UAE breakfast session; leading initiative to develop closer links with other countries’ associations.

She would like to make it easier, particularly for members without foreign offices, to access overseas legal advice; and help ELA, with lawyers from other countries, make contributions to developing international laws and best practice for multinational employers. She is good at getting things done and works hard behind the scenes for ELA.

Representative of the Bar
Paul Epstein QC

Paul is a QC who specialises in employment and discrimination law. He is a member of Cloisters, which he joined in October 1990. Paul acts for both employers and employees.

Paul was an elected member of the Employment Law Bar Association for 6 years, and served as Vice Chair from 2007-9 and as Chair from 2009-11.

He has experience of organising conferences and training events, has written or contributed to consultation responses on behalf of ELBA and the Bar to bodies such as MOJ and DBIS, and has sat on the ET national user group.

Paul has given many lectures for ELA, at specialist and annual conferences, and has written articles for ELA briefing.Paul hopes as a member of the committee to contribute further to the great work that ELA does in so many areas, such as training and L & P, to help foster the involvement of barristers in ELA, and to take an active part in the ELA management committee decision making.

In-house Representative
Mark Hunt

 I am EMEA Employment Counsel for BNY Mellon, with responsibility for all employment and benefits law issues relating to the organisation’s employees across the region. I trained at Ashurst and joined Warner Cranston in 1998. Following Warner Cranston’s merger with Reed Smith, I was appointed a partner and ultimately became responsible for Reed Smith’s European employment law practice. I am also a qualified workplace mediator.

I believe that ELA is an invaluable forum for lawyers practicing in a fast changing environment. I particularly hope to develop training and networking opportunities that are aimed at in house employment lawyers. I also believe that ELA provides an excellent opportunity for in house employment lawyers to provide valuable feedback on the impact of legislation and of proposed changes.

Regional Representatives
London & South East
Betsan Criddle

Betsan is a barrister at Old Square Chambers specialising in employment and discrimination law with a particular interest and expertise in litigation involving doctors’ disciplinary disputes. In addition to a busy practice, she is also a contributor to Sweet & Maxwell’s Employment Precedents and Company Policy Documents looseleaf and a co-author of the annual ’ Labour Law Review.

Betsan is a barrister at Old Square Chambers specialising in employment and discrimination law with a particular interest and expertise in litigation involving doctors’ disciplinary disputes. In addition to a busy practice, she is also a contributor to Sweet & Maxwell’s Employment Precedents and Company Policy Documents looseleaf and a co-author of the annual ’ Labour Law Review.

Betsan is a barrister at Old Square Chambers specialising in employment and discrimination law with a particular interest and expertise in litigation involving doctors’ disciplinary disputes. In addition to a busy practice, she is also a contributor to Sweet & Maxwell’s Employment Precedents and Company Policy Documents looseleaf and a co-author of the annual ’ Labour Law Review. She has been a member of ELA’s Training Committee for the past two years, where she has greatly enjoyed getting involved with one of ELA’s most important functions, that of organising high quality training for members. In that capacity, she has chaired Annual Conference breakout sessions and training events as well as contributing to the design of training events. She also has past management committee experience at the Free Representation Unit. She welcomes the opportunity to draw on those experiences as a member of ELA’s Management Committee, and provide a Bar perspective on the valuable work that ELA does.

Eleena Misra

Eleena was formerly President of the Oxford University Law Society. She was called to Middle Temple in July 2001. She is a specialist employment law practitioner (ET, EAT and High Court work in all areas including statutory and common law employment claims). Eleena sits on her chambers Standards Committee and is a qualified pupil supervisor and Equality Officer. She is also a longstanding member of the Bar Council Law Reform Committee currently serving as its only employment law specialist.

Eleena is on the panel of Approved Counsel for the EHRC and member of ELBA, the ILS and ELAAS. Eleena has co-authored Atkins on Employment and Equal Opportunities, and wrote Procedures in Civil Courts & Tribunals (ed. John Bowers QC).
Eleena is also the Head of the Disciplinary & Regulatory Group in chambers and has particular expertise in injunctive relief and cases involving doctors and other healthcare professionals in relation to Tribunals, disciplinary hearings, judicial review or other High Court claims. In addition, Eleena frequently represents Universities and other HEIs in public and private law cases.
Eleena seeks to get involved in social conscience/E&D projects with her chambers and pro bono high level expertise employment work whenever feasible.

Midlands
Ranjit Dhindsda

Ranjit is currently a Partner in a niche firm dealing with predominantly foreign owned clients with operations in the UK. She is also accredited as a Mediator. Her particular area of interest is Tribunal litigation. She has a particular interest in the way successive governments have amended employment laws in the UK particularly given economic challenges. She has established good relationships with colleagues and peers in both the East and West Midlands having worked in Nottingham and Birmingham throughout my career.Ranjit is currently a member of the Employment Lawyers Association, The Industrial Law Society, The West Midlands Law Society Employment Committee and the CIPD.

In recent years she has been a regular speaker at the Employment Lawyers Association Residential Course - Introduction to Employment Law, held in Birmingham annually. She has also spoken at a number of ELA evening events on diverse topics such as religious discrimination, and the Bribery Act. She also regularly participates in the L&P committee’s working parties. She is a firm supporter and advocate of the Employment Lawyers Association and believe it provides an important service to the profession. She very much looks forward to working as the regional representative for the Midlands.

North East
Anjali Sharma
Anjali is a solicitor in the Employment and Pensions Group at DAC Beachcroft LLP in Leeds. She previously worked for the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (now part of the Solicitors Regulation Authority). She qualified in 2007, and joined DAC Beachcroft in November 2010. She specialises in providing employment advice for both private and public sector organisations, as well as handling my own employment tribunal case load and providing training to clients.

Anjali proposes to ensure that the ELA North East membership is represented on both a local and national level, both in private practice and in-house. She has lots of ideas about increasing the profile of the ELA which include offering a variety of training sessions and meetings to ELA members, and working with the Regional Judge to look at ways of engaging members with the local employment tribunals. She is also keen that members get the opportunity to debate amongst themselves what the changes to the profession will mean for employment law in the future. In addition, she proposes that there will be more social events giving members the chance to network amongst their peer group.

Naeema Choudry
North West

Naeema is a partner at Eversheds based in the North West and advise on all aspects of employment law acting primarily on behalf of large scale employers who are household names. She has contributed to a variety of publications including Sweet & Maxwell's Employment Law Manual. I also provide commentary and articles for the wider broadcast media. She is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences and chair workshops on Equal Pay which are jointly hosted with Opportunity Now. She is also featured in the Legal 500, Legal Experts and Chambers directories in which I am noted for my "articulate and professional manner" and "high level of competency in various areas, from tribunals, to pension issues, to discrimination".

Naeema has been the North West ELA rep for the North West since June 2010. Since then she has arranged a number of training courses for members both in Manchester and Liverpool taking into account the views of members. Examples, include a talk from the Regional Employment Judge on employment tribunal reform and Charles Cumei on team moves. She has also organised social events to afford members the opportunity to network. In her role as the regional representative she also sits on the Management and Training Committees of ELA and have represented the view of members in the North West.

Scotland
Joan Cradden
Originally from Northern Ireland, Joan came to Scotland in 1984 to study for an MA in politics and social policy. She then completed an accelerated LLB and trained at Brodies. She has specialised in employment law since qualifying in 1994. She worked as an in-house lawyer with RBS for three years and after returning to Brodies she became head of our Employment Department. She now runs a team of approximately 25 lawyers with the help of her 6 departmental partners. She has a special interest in maternity issues in the workplace and employee relations.

She believes that, with encouragement, the Scottish membership could increase its contribution to ELA activity. She believes the organisation should be developing a Scottish ‘voice’ for the benefit of all members. In addition, while the connections between Scottish practitioners are strong, access to high quality training outside the firms is limited, particularly for more junior colleagues. She believes it should be possible to raise the bar on training organised through ELA and replicate the standards achieved in sessions organised in London and other regions.

South Wales
Nick Cooksey
Nick is a barrister at River Chambers, and practises exclusively in employment and equality law.
Consistently instructed in complex and sensitive proceedings, Nick has particular interest in cases of discrimination, whistleblowing and the interplay between domestic and European law. His practice is primarily advocacy based and he appears in Tribunals nationwide.

A significant element of Nick’s practice relates to proceedings in hospital / medical settings and public bodies. He is often instructed to assist with internal proceedings in a number of capacities embracing investigation, representation and decision making, especially concerning disciplinary action against medical professionals.

Nick also sits as a fee paid Employment Judge in the South West region, usually sitting in Bristol Employment Tribunal.

ELA events played a significant role in Nick’s desire to practice employment law, and he aims to help create the same positive experience for the current and next generation of employment lawyers within the region. Nick is committed to identifying and aligning regional membership needs with ELA services, and representing regional views in the ELAs decision making process.

Nick is assisted in the ELA region by Angharad Booker at Lyons Davidson in Cardiff, and Hannah Belton from QualitySolicitors Redkite covering West Wales. Together we hope to assist the region as a whole.

Nick is unstuffy in approach and he welcomes contact from all ELA members on any issue they wish to discuss. Any ideas to benefit ELA membership and increase understanding are gratefully received. You can email Nick directly on nick@riverchambers.com.

South West
Sean McHugh
Seán was called to the Bar in 2005.

He was retained by Steven Kay QC to work as Mr. Kay’s Assistant for two years, during which time Seán worked as part of the defence team for Slobodan Miloševic, and a Proceeds of Crime Act matter concerning Nigerian State Governor Joshua Dariye, sued in the Chancery Division by the Nigerian Government for embezzlement.

Seán subsequently qualified as a solicitor – in which capacity he forged links with the local Citizen Advice Bureau, from where he continues to provide a surgery on a variety of legal matters to members of the public, including all aspects of employment law.

Seán is a member of the Employment Law Team at Queen Square Chambers, Bristol.

Living near Exeter, and practicing out of Chambers in Bristol affords Seán as South West Regional Rep, the opportunity to keep his ear to the ground with the membership in the region: encouraging greater participation and involvement with the ELA in general. He works closely with the ELA admin staff when it comes to choice of: affordable venues for events; speakers and ensuring the membership get the training they request whenever possible.

Seán is looking forward to hearing from members in the south west who have ideas on how to develop links and participation with the ELA in the south west.

Members at Large

Merrill April
Merrill is Head of Employment at Memery Crystal LLP, an independent firm based in central London. Prior to becoming a partner in 2000, she practised employment litigation at LG for over 10 years. She acts both for corporate (SME’s and listed companies), across a wide range of sectors, and for individuals. She has a strong commitment to my clients and to resolving their issues in a commercial pragmatic and sensitive way and as a result have been ranked in Chambers UK as a leading individual for employment law.

She has served on the training committee and for the last two years on the management committee. She takes an active part and seek to contribute to the affairs of ELA.

She believes in ELA being as accessible and valuable to all its members as it can be and willl take every opportunity to ensure it remains relevant to and representative of its members.

Stuart Brittenden

Stuart is an employment law specialist who acts for both sides in all aspects of individual and collective employment law at first instance and appellate level. He is ranked in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500, with the former commending him as being “bright and engaging” and having impressed clients for his "responsiveness, pragmatism and thorough preparation."Prior to joining chambers, Stuart attained a Masters in Labour Law at LSE, and worked as an Employment Law Advisor to the British Dental Association (BDA). He has lectured in Labour Law at the LSE and has published in the employment field.Stuart has recently completed a 5+ year tenure diligently serving on the Qualifications Committee of the Bar Standards Board (BSB). In that capacity he also held the position of Chair of the Transferring Qualified Lawyers Panel. Now that this BSB tenure is complete, he now has capacity and drive to further contribute to ELA.

Previously he has supported ELA advocacy training events, and has also delivered seminars on issues of topical interest. Stuart intends to increase his commitment and support for ELA activities and events.

Yvette Budé

Yvetteis a barrister at Cloisters and have practiced law for 15 years, including as a solicitor at Freshfields. She is committed to promoting debate about employment law issues and hopes that her experience on both sides of the profession will add a helpful perspective.

In the past year she has been an active member of the ELA Consultation Group on Tribunal Reform. She aims to continue and increase the involvement in ELA of a wide range of employers and practitioners. She thinks it is important to exchange ideas, and work closely together, in this time of change.

Karen Mortenson

Karen is an associate at Finers Stephens Innocent LLP. She qualified at Dechert LLP, and spent a further three years post-qualification working within its Employment Department. Consequently, she has experience of working at both US/City and West-End firms.

She is friendly and personable, and has good attention to detail. She is reliable - and, having benefited greatly from ELA's training events, Karen is keen to contribute to its ongoing success. She is enthusiastic and willing to get involved as and when the role requires. She will prioritise her work for ELA, including attending meetings, and give this equal importance to her fee-earning work.

Catherine Taylor

Catherine is a partner in the employment group at Olswang with nearly 20 years of experience of employment issues. She has specific expertise in complex multi-jurisdictional and High Court litigation, board level disputes and data protection. She also has management experience, as a member of Olswang's management board (2003-2007). Her enthusiasm for employment law is reflected in the publications to which she has contributed. She is joint author of "Employment Law Checklists" and a contributing author to both editions of "Employee Competition – Covenants, Confidentiality and Garden Leave" (Ed. Paul Goulding QC).

She has previously served on the ELA Management Committee as a member at large. Her interest in employment law is both intellectual (having lectured at during my career break) and in practice. she has always been a strong advocate of the ELA and would look for opportunities to assist in widening the reach of the ELA.

Tom Flanagan
ELA Law Society Representative

Tom is the National Head of Employment at Irwin Mitchell. He specialises in all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law.

Tom has particular expertise in dealing with the application and effects of TUPE in mergers, acquisitions and outsourcing, in the public and private sectors, and advising on Trade Unions and employee consultation issues, including the European Works Council Directive and the impact of the Information and Consultation Regulations.

Other main interests include boardroom disputes, equal pay and discrimination (in respect of which he represented HSBC in the part-time pension workers' cases in the European Court of Justice and House of Lords), drafting and enforcing restrictive covenants and also restructuring and change management. Tom has particular experience of advising banks and other financial institutions.He is a frequent writer and public speaker on a range of employment issues, particularly TUPE, employee consultation and new legislation.