Employment Law Solicitors & HR Specialists

Harrison Drury provides clients with access to a highly experienced team of employment lawyers as well as specialist HR professionals who deliver support across the full range of employment law issues ranging from day-to-day HR matters to complex projects and defending employment litigation.

The benefit of the combined HR and employment specialisms in the team is that advice in both areas is closely aligned in order to minimise client exposure to disputes. The team works proactively with clients to avoid disputes arising and manage issues and they work in the long term with retained clients in this respect, acting as an extension of clients’ in-house teams, protecting your business and working to long term objectives.

Whether you are an SME, an owner managed business or a large corporate organisation with your own HR team, the solicitors and HR professionals at Harrison Drury provide support across the whole employment lifecycle from onboarding staff and ensuring contractual arrangements are fit for purpose through to day-to-day management of all people matters right through to exit, working creatively with clients to identify commercially focused solutions where needed.

People issues move quickly, and they can feel personal even when the decisions are commercial. We help you stay on the front foot with clear, practical advice you can apply in real time, whether you are managing performance, absence and conduct, planning a restructure, protecting confidentiality, or handling a sensitive exit.

For owner-managed businesses and SMEs, that often means having someone you can pick up the phone to, who understands your business and helps you make decisions with confidence, with costs and next steps set out clearly. For in-house teams and larger employers, it means reliable support that fits your governance, reporting and risk management needs, with the capacity to handle peaks in workload and complex projects without losing continuity.

You will have a team that stays close to the detail and works in a joined-up way, so legal advice and HR support reinforce each other. We focus on preventing issues where we can, resolving them early where possible, and defending claims robustly when needed, always with an eye on the impact on your people, your time, and your organisation. We make it possible to move forward with clarity and control.

Our work is recognised in independent legal directories including Chambers and Partners (UK) and The Legal 500 (UK), and the firm holds Lexcel, the Law Society practice management standard.

Employment and HR services:

Employment Litigation & Tribunals

HR Consultancy

HR Compass

Employment Rights Bill

The team also supports clients with redundancy exercises, helping you to navigate the often difficult and complex restructuring process, adding a wealth of value to the process and negotiating with staff where the stakes are high, whilst ensuring compliance is achieved to protect the client from any future claims.

Employment advice extends to contractual work for both new and existing staff, service agreements and policies, handbooks and other documentation, in line with increasing levels of compliance in a fast moving and ever-changing area of law.

We pride ourselves on the relationships we develop with our clients and the commercial and pragmatic legal advice we provide. We will take the time to get to know your business and will work collaboratively and commercially with you to ensure our advice works with your operational needs and approach to managing legal risk.

As employment law is constantly evolving, we make sure our advisors are up to date with all the latest developments so that you can rest assured we have you covered. We don’t use legal jargon – our advice is provided in a straightforward and clear way so you know exactly what you need to do and if you need it, can receive support on the practical implementation of that advice from our HR team.

Meet our Employment & HR team

Alex Barr

Solicitor Employment & HR

t: 01772 208537

m: 07385 501619

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David Carmichael

Partner Employment & HR

t: 0161 528 4410

m: 07879 891001

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Eva Hood

HR Assistant Employment & HR

t: 01772 984928

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Helen Russell

Lead HR Consultant and Solicitor Employment & HR

t: 01772 395013

m: 07880 507435

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Jamie Campbell

Partner Employment & HR

t: 01772 925381

m: 07880 114410

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Katie Jones

Apprentice Solicitor Employment & HR

t: 01704 796803

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Lauren Wood

Solicitor Employment & HR

t: 0161 515 5509

m: 07350 361908

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Roger Spence

Partner Employment & HR

t: 01772 374731

m: 07584 373929

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Sally Tomlinson

Legal Director Employment & HR

t: 0161 564 6453

m: 07345 600153

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Zara Naveed-Khan

Trainee Solicitor Employment & HR

t: 01772 258321

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I found David very personable and will certainly use him again.

David is a very smart and commercial lawyer focused on employment matters. His approach to solving a thorny problem was creative and backed up by his deep knowledge of the subject and his ability to communicate. I found him very personable and will certainly use him again.

Swag Mukerji, Centaur Media

I would recommend his services highly.

I worked with David on a number of difficult cases and was always extremely impressed by his professional approach, steady hand and expert advice. When you consult with a large corporate partner a key attribute is being able to develop rapport quickly, assess matters confidently and advise the client impartially to deliver the right outcome. In my experience David delivers over and above every time and it was a pleasure working with him.

Karen Bosher

I would not hesitate to recommend David!

I have known David now for some 10 years and sought his advice and counsel many times. David is pragmatic to work with, incredibly insightful and technically excellent.He fully understands the world of HR. I would not hesitate to recommend David to any business and always welcome the opportunity to work with him as I know that I am in safe hands.

Nicola Byrne

Davids advice has never let myself, my team or business down.

He fully understands the world of HR and will not only provide a legally correct insight but will also then discuss the realities of what this means for a commercial business. As we all know sometimes the legal answer is not always practical in the world of HR and so David has stepped me through other options and couples this with the balance of risk. His advice has never let either myself , my team or business down.

We deal with the HR and employment law team and they are amazing to deal with – we have an excellent working relationship.

Legal 500

The lawyers take a realistic and pragmatic approach and have the client’s best interests in mind.

Legal 500

They are thorough and have an eye for detail. They are able to balance the legal position with the interests of the business.

Legal 500

Advice we receive is of a high quality and backed with facts.

Legal 500

The team are very responsive both for planned and reactive items of work! I have found them to be very quick to complete pieces of work and to be very detailed in their responses to queries we have had.

Legal 500