About

I'm a Partner in our Employment, Immigration and Reward team, based with the rest of the fantastic team in Belfast. Being qualified in England & Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, I provide cross jurisdiction and comparative law advice to clients throughout the UK and Ireland, bringing a bit of Belfast craic with me.

I advise clients on contentious and non-contentious matters, including HR support, mergers & acquisitions, restructuring, executive management, performance management, TUPE, outsourcing, discrimination law, and a full range of employment litigation.

I advise across a range of sectors including hospitality, retail, manufacturing, pharma, technology, financial services, education and public bodies.

So, I don't look like a typical lawyer...eh? Well, perhaps because prior to training as a lawyer I had more than a decade of experience working in HR management roles across sectors covering retail, construction, manufacturing and logistics. I am a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, as well as Visiting Professor to the school of law at Ulster University.

Experience

Strategic HR support

  • Helping businesses navigate through all aspects of HR and employment law - from recruitment, organisational development, performance management, succession planning, grievances & disciplines, through to reorganisations and dismissals - to meet their business objectives
  • Steering clients through complex internal disputes, including dealing with persistent and long-term absences, capability issues, misconduct, breaches of contract and whistleblowing
  • Advising on senior executive employment matters, including negotiating service agreements & contracts, incentive schemes, performance & conduct and senior exits
  • Advising on collective labour law, including requests for Trade Union recognition, collective bargaining, balloting and strikes

Employment litigation

  • Managing a full range of employment litigation, from first stage Tribunal or WRC through to the higher appeal courts, including straight-forward statutory claims (unfair dismissal, unlawful deductions etc) through to complex discrimination and whistleblowing cases
  • Advising on Civil Court cases for breach of contract, injunctions and enforcement of post-termination restrictions
  • Negotiating settlements and managing Alternative Dispute Resolution procedures, including conciliation, mediation and arbitration, to avoid litigation

Employment

  • Ensuring that clients have relevant and robust contracts of employment, worker contracts, agency worker agreements and contractor agreements in place, as well as advising on employment status rights and obligations
  • Drafting relevant handbooks and policies & procedures for clients, ensuring legal compliance as well as business flexibility
  • Partnering with clients in providing 'business as usual' and day-to-day HR and employment law support, ensuring that matters are dealt with practically, swiftly and with a solutions focused approach
  • Working with clients on diversity, equity & inclusion issues to ensure that policies and practices are non-discriminatory and inclusive, dealing with complaints of bullying, harassment & discrimination to assist in resolving matters before they turn litigious, but also delivering DE&I training for staff and managers setting out not only legal requirements but tying this into business culture

Employment M&A, outsourcing & TUPE

  • Advising companies on the employment aspects of IP rights, confidentiality and post termination covenants
  • Advising on employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions, including due diligence, reporting on structure, advising on any non-compliance etc in order to remove or minimise client risk whilst working towards a smooth transaction
  • As a "TUPE nerd", I enjoy reviewing staffing structures in business & asset transactions and in service provision changes, providing guidance on all aspects from information & consultation, due diligence & employment risks, through to drafting practical and solutions focused TUPE drafting to provide protection and minimised risks to reflect the commercial agreement between the parties

Testimonials

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'Paul Gillen, for me, has not only great legal insight, but he also has very valuable knowledge of the people in our industry. He and his team are thorough in their investigations, and they are practical in the delivery of the legal solutions.'
Legal 500
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Services

Sectors