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Commercial Clients > Employment Law

Commercial Employment Law

Protect your business against Employment claims.

Ward Gethin Archer Solicitors can assist your business no matter what stage it is at. Whether you are at the beginning, setting up your business and taking on your first employee or whether you have already grown and developed into a successful business, employing hundreds of staff. Our experts can help you to manage your employees and protect your business against Employment Tribunal claims.

Employment Law

As you will be aware, employment law is extremely complicated and undergoes changes on a regular basis. It is therefore difficult for employers to keep up to date with employment law and often employers can be held to have unfairly dismissed an employee when they did not even realise that they were in breach of the law. Unfortunately, employment law is not just common sense and without specialist advice you can leave yourself open to timely and costly Employment Tribunal claims.

At Ward Gethin Archer our solicitors can help you to ensure that you are protected and reduce the risk of an expensive claim being made against you. We can assist you right from the start before any Employment Tribunal proceedings are issued and often find prevention is better than a cure. So it is always better to seek our advice before you dismiss or discipline any of your employees.

We can also help you avoid Employment Tribunal claims by ensuring that you have suitable procedures in place. We can assist you with the following:

  • Drafting your employment contracts. If you do not have a contract of employment in place, then the Tribunal can make awards on behalf of employees against you.
  • Drafting of employment policies and your procedures for disciplinary and grievance procedures
  • Drafting of retirement policies which you now have to have in place
  • Representing you in negotiations and proceedings in the Employment Tribunal
  • Assisting you in director's duties, service agreements and post termination obligations including restrictive covenants and non solicitation clauses. It is important to ensure that your employees to do take away your clients and set up in competition with you. We can advise you in relation to these clauses which can protect you and your business
  • Advising you on employment law issues of buying and selling of your business which can be costly if you do not do correctly

Please do not leave it too late to contact our employment team, and try to seek advice before proceedings have been issued against you. If you require advice please contact one of our solicitors or contact your nearest office and we will be more than happy to assist. The contact details for each of our offices can be found by clicking here.

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Richard Pennington

Richard Pennington

Richard is the Finance Director and Partner with responsibility for the firm's finances. He is the firm's Compliance Officer of Financial Administration (COFA) and is solicitor and Partner in our Family, Civil Litigation and Employment departments based in King's Lynn.

Richard became a solicitor in 1986, and has been a Partner since May 1991. Richard brings over 20 years of litigation experience and deals with particularly contentious financial issues in divorces for SME owners and their spouses, commercial disputes of all sorts, contentious probate matters and professional negligence disputes for the firm.

Richard is a trained civil litigation mediator, a Member of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association and a Resolution Trained Collaborative Family Lawyer able to deal with collaborative work, and is also a member of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists.

Richard is also the Chair of YMCA Norfolk and a trustee of a number of local charities, a church elder and a member of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship.

Email Richard Pennington 

Telephone Richard Pennington 01553 667202

Accreditations & Professional Memberships:

Members of ResolutionMembers of The Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS)Professional Negligence Lawyers AssociationResolution Collaborative Lawyer
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Kim Faivelowitz

Kim Faivelowitz

Kim is a Chartered Legal Executive specialising in Dispute Resolution and Employment Law. Kim joined the firm in 2002 and is based in the King's Lynn office. Kim advises on a wide range of litigation matters, including contract disputes, debt collection, commercial and residential landlord/tenant and property disputes. Kim acts on behalf of employers and employees in Employment Tribunal claims and she advises on all employment matters, including unfair dismissal claims, discrimination claims and TUPE related claims. Kim also drafts and advises upon employment contracts.

Outside of work, Kim enjoys socialising, keeping fit and spending quality time with her family.

Email Kim Faivelowitz 

Telephone Kim Faivelowitz 01553 667225

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Chris Dewey

Chris Dewey

Chris is a solicitor, the firm's Managing Partner and a key member of both the Personal Injury and Employment Law teams. He is a Senior Litigator with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, a member of the Law Society's Personal Injury Panel, and specialises in helping Union members with accidents at work and occupational disease claims. He also has a wealth of experience advising on all aspects of Employment Law including claims for unfair dismissal, disability claims and TUPE transfers.

Email Chris Dewey 

Telephone Chris Dewey 01553 667209

Accreditations & Professional Memberships:

The Law Society Accredited: Personal Injury
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Sarah Scott

Sarah Scott

Sarah is a solicitor and Partner in the Personal Injury and Employment team.

She has been with the firm since 1994, initially as a trainee, qualifying as a solicitor in 1996.

Sarah specialises in industrial injury cases including asbestos exposure, occupational asthma and accidents at work generally. She also deals with claims involving accidents abroad and occupier's liability accidents. She is a member of the Law Society's Personal Accreditation Scheme. She also advises on employment law.

Sarah is also a Notary Public.

Sarah is a member of KLARS (King's Lynn Area Resettlement Support), which is a registered charity supporting newcomers to the area who are having difficulties arising from lack of language or unfamiliarity with the culture; the Old School Community Heritage Project in Terrington St Clement and TAMBA (the Twins and Multiple Births Association). When time allows, Sarah also enjoys brushing up on her very rusty grade 8 in piano and bassoon (albeit not at the same time).

Email Sarah Scott 

Telephone Sarah Scott 01553 667210

Accreditations & Professional Memberships:

The Law Society Accredited: Personal InjuryMembers of The Notaries Society
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Vikki Ridgway

Vikki Ridgway

Vikki is a trainee Legal Executive who joined the firm in 2008. She is based within the Personal Injury department where she specialises in road traffic accident claims, and also assists other members of the Personal Injury team with their cases. Vikki also advises on employment.

Away from the office, Vikki enjoys reading and is also a keen Tottenham Hotspur supporter.

Email Vikki Ridgway 

Telephone Vikki Ridgway 01553 667266

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Sally Dean

Sally Dean

Sally joined us from a large regional firm and is a solicitor specialising in Employment Law and Dispute Resolution since 2006. Sally works in our King's Lynn office and handles civil litigation matters including contract disputes, debt recovery, wills and landlord/tenant disputes. Sally advises on all aspects of Employment Law including employment contracts, compromise agreements, handling employment disputes and representation in the Employment Tribunal.

Sally's hobbies include music, reading, running and winter sports.

Email Sally Dean 

Telephone Sally Dean 01553 667205

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Michael Judkins

Michael Judkins

Michael is a Partner in our Ely office specialising in Employment, Criminal and General Litigation matters. Michael was a salaried partner at Wilson Browne in Kettering from 1985, before joining the firm as a Partner in 1992.

Michael deals with all aspects of Employment Law and practice for both employers and employees, in addition to commercial and other Civil Litigation. He also undertakes Criminal work, and regular advocacy in this and other areas.

Michael was founder President and is an active member of Ely Hereward Rotary Club. He is also a member of Ely 41 Club (for ex-Round Tablers) and is involved with other local organisations. His outside interests include sport (particularly football and Leicester City Football Club), doing anything energetic, and developing a song portfolio which has led from learning to play guitar.

Email Michael Judkins 

Telephone Michael Judkins 01353 646103