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 and details of the 2008 elections will be published shortly.

Chair
Suzanne McKie

Suzanne is a barrister of 1991 call specialising wholly in the area of employment law. She is based in London and practises throughout Great Britain, for employers and employees. She is highly recommended in the current and in past editions of the Legal 500 and the Chambers and Partners Directories. She is dual qualified as a Solicitor (and practised for 3 years). She lectures widely and is co-author of a number of legal text-books. She has extensive committee experience, including with the Diversity Committee of the Bar Council and as a trustee of Redress, a human rights charity.

Suzanne has been on the ELA Management Committee for 8 years; Editor of ELA Briefing (2001-2004) and Deputy Chair of ELA (2004-2008). She co-created the Litigation Weekend and Advocacy courses. In the last 4 years she has helped develop the new website, ensured changes to the constitution (to allow one vote and copies of ELA Briefing for all) and assisted in the increase in reserve funds for ELA’s future development.

Deputy Chair
Joanne Owers

Joanne has a particular interest in discrimination work and writes and lectures widely in the area of age discrimination in particular.

She has been an active member of ELA’s Training Committee since 2001, during which time she has devised, planned and chaired numerous London evening sessions, breakout sessions at the Annual Conferences, and has chaired and spoken at many ELA courses. She was a member of the ELA working party on age discrimination and for the past year have served as one of the London and South-East Regional Representatives on the Management Committee.

Treasurer
Jane Amphlett
Jane is a Partner in the 40-strong Employment Team of Addleshaw Goddard LLP and is based in London.

Jane has specialised in employment law since qualifying in 1993 and has been a member and regular attendee at ELA training and events since then! She trained with Eversheds in Norwich and remained there until 1996 when she moved to Manches in London. She became a Partner and Head of Employment at Manches in 2000.

Since moving to Addleshaw Goddard in 2004, she has acted mainly for employers, but also advises individuals, on all aspects of employment law.

Secretary
Richard Linskell

Richard's practice as a partner with Campbell Hooper encompasses the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment work, acting for both employers and employees at all levels. 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, including Whitehouse v Blatchford & Sons (CA), and has extensive advocacy experience in Employment Tribunals and the EAT. He regularly contributes articles to ELA Briefing and other journals.

Richard has been on the Management Committee for five years. Over the last year, he has overseen a fundamental review of the ELA constitution. He is also on the Editorial Board of ELA Briefing.

Editor, ELA Briefing
Alex Lock

Alex was called to the Bar in 1996, but did not practise as a barrister, and worked for a company providing employment law services to businesses. Throughout the next 3 years I appeared in employment tribunals throughout the UK defending all manner of employment claims, as well as providing advice and assistance to employers.

He joined Beachcroft LLP (previously Beachcroft Wansbroughs) in Bristol in 1999 as an Associate to re-establish an employment department at that office.

Alex has served as deputy editor and now editor for the past two years. His pledge when he first stood as editor was to have ELA Briefing re-designed to make it more modern, fresher and easier to read. For the future he wants to ensure that the quality of the writing is not only maintained, but improved.

Chair, Training Committee
Anne Pritam

Anne joined as a partner of City firm Stephenson Harwood in January 2008, having previously been a partner at Fox Williams.

She has been actively involved with the ELA training committee since 2000, and has enjoyed chairing the committee for the last two years. During that time she has developed a new update course to run twice a year, has overhauled the litigation residential course, and has increased the range of courses at all levels across the country. Over the last year, the training committee has also sought to expand our pool of excellent volunteer speakers (both lawyer and non-lawyer).

Anne would like to chair the training committee next year, in a period when a number of planned projects come to fruition, such as the launch of the first podcasts on the new ELA website.

Chair, Legislative & Policy Committee
Richard Fox

Richard is Head of Employment at Kingsley Napley and a former President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association. He acts for corporates, regulators and organisations, as well as individuals, including senior police officers and company directors. He is particularly interested in employment dispute resolution reform. He has also lectured and written on employment issues of all kinds.

He has been appointed by the High Court on a number of occasions to supervise the execution of search orders, picking up tips along the way from chief officer clients!

He has served on the Legislative & Policy Committee for many years contributing to various working parties along the way e.g. in relation to Working Time and Age Discrimination. This year he chaired the Prevention of Illegal Working Party which reported to the Home Office in late August.

In 2005 he became responsible for the ELA Survey which was published in May 2006 and then for our subsequent reports in response to Gibbons.

Chair, International Committee
Clare Murray

Clare Murray is managing partner of CM Murray LLP, based in Canary Wharf. She specialises in employment and partnership law. Previously Clare was a partner at Fox Williams and qualified at Eversheds (formerly Jaques & Lewis).

Clare was founding chair of XBHR: Global Forum for Cross-Border HR Experts and was elected Chair of ELA International Committee in May 2007. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association and EELA.

In 2007/8 Clare oversaw the adoption and implementation by the International Committee of two key objectives: (1) to develop a structured programme of international employment law training; and (2) to build on the profile and influence of ELA abroad.

The Committee spent the last year working towards those objectives, with a well attended and received quarterly training programme. It also hosted two events for the respective ABA and IBA Employment Committees. Both events provided opportunities in the UK for ELA members to meet overseas employment lawyers. Further initiatives for 08/09 are planned to build further towards those objectives.

Chair, Pro Bono Committee
Paul Quain
Paul was called to the Bar in 1997 and have been a solicitor since 2003. I am currently in the Employment Department at Linklaters having previously worked for five years at Charles Russell. He has been involved in all aspects of employment law for 10 years. He has acted in a number of significant cases including Stransky v Bristol Rugby Club, Anyanwu v Another v South Bank University (House of Lords), Rutherford (House of Lords) and most recently Keen v Commerzbank (Court of Appeal).

He has been a member of ELA’s Pro Bono Committee for seven years and its Chair for three. He has also served as an active member of the Management Committee for three years. He is particularly keen to reach out to a wider membership to make sure the organisation is a truly representative and serves its members’ needs. He has a special interest in the running of the tribunal service, including the EAT, and am passionate about widening the access to justice and promoting pro bono access to employment advice and encouraging ELA members to do pro bono work.

Representative of the Bar
Mohinderpal Sethi
Mohinderpal is a a barrister at Devereux Chambers. He has specialised in employment law at the Bar since 1996 and, before then, as an Employment Litigation Manager for BT Group Legal Services.

His practice encompasses all aspects of workplace disputes: he acts for employers and employees, city firms, niche employment practices, trade unions and public authorities in the tribunals, High Court and on appeal. His particular interests are employee competition, bonus claims, TUPE, discrimination and whisteblowing.

He has for many years written and spoken widely on employment law issues at expert level for various organisations including ELA.

He has been a member of the editorial committee of ELA Briefing since 2000 and is pleased with its bright ‘new look’ and format. If elected, He seeks to continue to provide a progressive and broad contribution tothe work of the Management Committee. He believes that the new web site is brilliant but believes it can be still further developed into an even more useful resource for members.

Regional Representatives

London & the South East
David Ludlow

David is a Partner in the Surrey Firm, Barlow Robbins LLP. He was previously an in-house employment lawyer at New Scotland Yard (1991 to 1997) and prior to that (1987 to 1991) practised in Holborn (Woodham Smith) and the West End (The Simkins Partnership). He has specialised mainly in Employer/Respondent work but have done some high profile claimant work particularly in discrimination through the EOC/EHRC panel.

David has worked on the Training Committee for 5 years and throughout that period he has been actively involved in organising and chairing London Evening Sessions, the Annual Conferences and courses such as the Rounded Employment Lawyer. He has contributed to ELA Briefing.

He welcomes the opportunity to apply his practical and operational experience of ELA at the Management Committee level as a ‘former in house employment lawyer who practises in Surrey'. One ambition is to develop the training and ELA organisation in Surrey.

North West
Philip Harman
Philip is a partner in the Employment Practice Area of Cobbetts LLP. He advises a wide range of employers upon all aspects of employment law and industrial relations. Philip also acts for employers and senior employees in pursuing or defending claims in the Employment Tribunal. He has a particular interest in the European aspect of Employment Law. Philip is responsible for training within the Employment Practice Area at Cobbetts LLP and also has a Knowledge Management role within the Firm.

He has been a member of ELA since 1996 and, since May 2005, and has served as the North West Regional Representative. During that time he regularly participated in ELA Management and Training Committee meetings representing the interests of the region. He has organised regular evening training sessions and has been very active in the development of a pilot pro-bono employment law support service for the region. This has included working with LawWorks and Bury Law Centre on the establishment of a pro-bono employment law service to those who would not otherwise be able to afford or access quality legal advice.

Philip was involved in ELA’s consultation exercise to collate and present the views of North West members as to the future of the Statutory Dispute Resolution Procedures. He has supported and encouraged member participation with the ET User group and the Tribunal shadowing scheme. He has also encouraged communication between members in the North West and ELA.

North East
Rachael Heenan
Rachael is a partner in the Employment Group at Beachcroft. She has been the ELA North East representative for the last two years and during that time she has set up training and meetings throughout the region including Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield. They have also arranged a number of social sessions which have been well received.

During the next year, she would like to focus on ensuring that the ELA meets the needs of its members locally so would welcome feedback as to what members would like arranged in your region not just training and networking! She would also like to encourage local members at all levels to share their wealth of experience through participating more in training sessions.

Midlands
Tariq Sadiq
Tariq has been ELA representative for the Midlands, since 2005. He is a Barrister who has specialised in employment law for over fifteen years. He is the Head of the Employment Group at No5 Chambers in Birmingham and was appointed by the Attorney-General as Treasury Counsel. He is consistently recommended as a leading employment Barrister for the Midlands by Chambers and Partners
and The Legal 500. His practice is predominantly respondent based.

In the last year, he has arranged regular training sessions in Birmingham and Nottingham to the extent that the Midlands region now has one of the busiest lecture programmes in the country. Feedback has been consistently high. He intends to pilot lunchtime sessions.

Tariq has set up Shadowing Schemes for members to spend a day shadowing a Chairman in Birmingham and Nottingham tribunals, which has been extremely popular. He intends to expand the Scheme to other tribunals. He has set up and been involved in the Pro-Bono Employment Advice and Assistance Scheme in Birmingham, which has proved very popular.He has also attended ET User Groups on behalf of the ELA in Birmingham and Nottingham.

Tariq has arranged ELA social events and intends to hold events throughout the region this summer. He has kept members in the region informed of his work by producing an end of year Report.

South Wales
Damian Phillips
Damian is a Senior Associate in Hugh James’ Employment Department. He qualified in 1997 in a medium sized Cardiff firm, undertaking a variety of mainly contentious areas of law. In 2002, he joined a large Bristol practice, reinventing myself as a specialist employment lawyer. He joined Hugh James in 2003. He practises all aspects of employment law, including corporate support. Damian has a particular interest in industrial relations. He is an experienced advocate, regularly appearing in the Employment Tribunal. He also provides pro bono assistance at Cardiff Law Centre.

He has always supported the very active ELA group in South Wales. He is passionate aboutemployment law and South Wales. He wishes to develop existing foundations. He wants a more structured series of evening lectures, on topics chosen by members. He is confident that he will attract some worthy speakers. He wishes to develop an Employment Judge shadowing scheme at Cardiff Employment Tribunal for junior members. He hopes to invite representations from members before attending ELA Committee meetings and provide feedback. Finally, he will organise regular social events, big and small, including resurrecting Barry Clarke’s legendary quiz.

South West
Christopher Seaton

Chris has been an employment specialist since qualification in 1993 and Head of the Employment Team at Burges Salmon since 1999, based in Bristol.

He has been an active member of the ELA since its inception and a member of the European Employment Lawyers Association for the last 7 years.

Chris was elected as South West Regional Representative in May 2007. He arranges local training sessions and focuses on the value ELA can by getting local practitioners together not only to share ideas and debate the latest legal developments but also to build relationships with fellow employment lawyers in the region.

Scotland
Tony McGrade

Tony is a partner in a firm of solicitors practicing exclusively in the field on employment law. His firm undertakes contentious and non contentious work for individuals and small to medium size employers. They undertake a substantial amount of discrimination work. He regularly provides training for clients, voluntary organisations and law centres. He is a member of the Scottish Discrimination Law Association and the Employment Law Group. He is also a member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Employment Law Committee.

Tony has been the Scottish regional representative for the past year and has made an effort to attend Management and Training Committee Meetings in London as often as he can. He has organised a number of regional training events and one joint conference with the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Scotland. I would like ELA to expand the range of training it provides, including the use of on-line training. He would like to expand ELA membership in Scotland and to encourage applications from those working in small and medium sized firms. He would also like to raise the profile of ELA among members of the general public as a means of generating work for our members.

Northern Ireland
Jenine McCourt
Jenine qualified as an employment solicitor with a commercial firm in the Midlands and relocated back to Northern Ireland in 2004 to work as an assistant Solicitor at Rosemary Connolly Solicitors. In 2007 she became a partner. She practises only in employment law and acts for both employees and employers in both contentious and non contentious matters.

Jenine has written articles on employment and equality law and is a regular speaker at Legal Island conference events on employment law. She is also an accredited tutor at the Institute of Legal Studies on Employment Law and Industrial Tribunal procedure. She has been a member of ELA since she qualified as an employment lawyer. She would like to build links with other ELA regions especially in light of Northern Ireland’s unique dual Tribunal. She believes that useful information relevant to all employment lawyers can be gained from maintaining a relationship with UK employment lawyers.

Members at Large
Jonathan Chamberlain
Jonathan joined Wragge & Co in 1998, after training and qualifying at Slaughter and May. He became a partner the following year. Jonathan handles all aspects of employment law, specialising in strategic employment advice, board and senior executive issues and business protection litigation. Jonathan takes a particular interest in assisting from an English law aspect on pan-European employee projects such as re-structurings, implementing common policies and employee conditions, and is the originator of ourstrong pan-European relationships with leading employment lawyers.

Jonathan has supported the ELA over a number of years, regularly speaking at ELA events. He helped develop the ELA's highly rated introductory course and has lectured at it on every occasion it has been run.

Henry Clinton-Davis
Henry leads the employment team at Wilmer Hale. He has previously served one year on the Management Committee and has experience of all sides of the profession: originally a tenant in employment law chambers before becoming a solicitor and having worked as in-house Counsel and at the European Commission. He is an accredited mediator, but most of his practical experience is dispute resolution at home!

He is happy and flexible in the contribution he make. He runs his firm’s in-house training programme, and in recent past have organised an ELA course on cross-border employment. He is on ELA’s International Committee and has previously served on the Management Committee, contributed to ELA Briefing and
assisted with submission to government on trade union learning representatives. Coming from an International law firm, he thinks it important for ELA to provide lawyers in smaller firms the chance to build up international connections and develop their practices into new areas.

Paul Daniels
Paul studied Law at Oxford University, graduating in 1988. He trained at international law firm, Linklaters, qualifying into the employment department in 1993.

He joined Russell Jones & Walker, London, in 1995. He was made a partner in April 2001. He specialises in representing Claimants in employment tribunal and High Court cases, particularly Senior Executives, whistleblowers, disabled employees and Football Managers!

In 2005 he was appointed a part-time Employment Judge in London South region, where he continues to sit. He hopes to draw down on his experience representing Claimants for many years. He also hopes to use insights and perspectives drawn from sitting as an Employment Judge. He has a particular interest in and experience of disability issues, having dealt with many cases in this area. Finally, he would like to help develop ELA's approach to the growing use and importance of mediation.

Paul been a member of the Legislative and Policy Committee of ELA for some years now and regular attendee at events and wishes to try and increase his contribution to ELA overall.

Zoe Wigan
Zoe is a partner in Beachcroft, Employment and Pensions Group. She has particular experience in transactional employment work and the operation of TUPE in the public and private sector.

Co-opted member – Law Society Council Seat
Verity Boocock

Verity qualified in 2001 and throughout her career to date she has been based in Kent and Sussex. She practices exclusively in the area of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious. Verity has recently left private practice, where she headed up the Mayo Wynne Baxter LLP employment law team, to take up post as East Sussex County Council's employment law solicitor. Verity undertakes a wide range of Respondent work fon behalf of the Council as well as conducting work for Sussex Police and the Sussex Probation Service. , and she undertakes work for both claimants and respondents. she currently heads up the employment law team at Mayo & Perkins in Eastbourne and Tunbridge Wells.

Since 2005 Verity has been an examiner for AS Level Law for a national examination board and for two years she acted as a personal mentor under the College of Law scheme. She is currently the ELA constituency representative on the Law Society Council and she is a member of the Law Society’s Employment Law Committee.