Employment Law Solicitors

Our employment law solicitors provide strategic advice to medium and large-sized employers, as well as senior executives, on complex employment matters.

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Our award-winning employment group is one of the largest, most specialised and respected legal teams in the North, with the team being consistently ranked top in legal directories such as The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.

We’re the employment law partner you can depend on to navigate the rapidly evolving legal landscape and turn your ambitions into reality.

We deliver tailored and strategic advice with proactive solutions to address the full spectrum of legal challenges that a business can face — from day-to-day HR advice to complex business reorganisations and employment tribunal claims.

Our team also supports individuals, senior executives and directors to get the most out of their career through negotiating executive settlement agreements, restrictive covenants and compensation packages as well as protecting and defending their employment rights when it matters most.

We serve all of England and Wales from five modern offices in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Lancashire and London.

Talk to our team by calling 0333 004 4488, emailing hello@brabners.com or completing our contact form.

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Webinar: Are you ready for unfair dismissal reforms?

From 1 January 2027, the statutory cap on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal cases will be removed and the qualifying period for claims will reduce from two years to six months. Watch our webinar replay now to get practical guidance on the changes and what they mean.

Watch now

Full spectrum employment law support for businesses

We can support you at every stage of your growth. With our strategic and commercial advice, we’ll help you to navigate new legislation including the Employment Rights Act.

Our lawyers provide advice on handling day-to-day employment issues and offer tailored and practical training sessions focused on prevention rather than cure to ensure that your People and HR teams and managers have the skills and confidence they need to handle any situation — from managing misconduct and disciplinary and grievance procedures to absenteeism, capability and performance and long term ill health.

You can also come to us for strategic advice on matters such as business sales, mergers and acquisitions, diversity, equity and inclusion (including discrimination), redundancy, reorganisation and restructure programmes, TUPE transfers and outsourcing, exit strategies, restrictive covenants and trade union and employee relations. In addition, our lawyers are highly experienced in employment dispute and litigation matters including preventing and defending claims of discrimination, unfair dismissal and whistleblowing.

We act for a broad variety of employers ranging from large corporates to SMEs including some of the largest employers in the UK. We work with household names across the public and private sector, including retail, leisure and hospitality businesses, recruitment and workforce solution agencies, manufacturing companies, sports bodies, charities, professional services and registered providers of social housing.

Contact our team today

Trade unions: what employers need to know

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Experienced employment law solicitors

Our team of employment law experts is led by 'expert in his field' Nick Campbell, previously recognised by The Legal 500 as a ‘Hall of Fame’ employment lawyer, with a national reputation for dealing with complex employment-related disputes.

Also recognised as ‘Recommended Lawyers’ by The Legal 500 and offering considerable sector knowledge across the team, Lydia Edgar is renowned for her sports law expertise and Simon Whitehead heads up our recruitment and workforce solutions sector. Lee Jefcott leads our leisure and hospitality specialism, 'superb lawyer' Joseph Shelston acts for several national and international retail brands and Ali Hough handles a range of tribunal claims with his ‘exceptional abilities’. Hannah Morrison is an 'excellent' lawyer who specialises in advising clients in the recruitment sector, Siobhan Howard-Palmer handles complex individual claims across a broad range of industries and Matthew Lavelle supports sports clubs, players and agents in relation to their regulatory obligations and rights.

Kate Venables was recognised as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ by The Legal 500 in 2025 and is a 'fantastic' lawyer who heads up our team providing support for in-house lawyers and General Counsel. Brendan McAleese leads our team in supporting the professional services industry and is experienced in handling business immigration and sponsor licence matters. With a strong background in both contentious and non-contentious matters, Christine Hart advises on TUPE, employment tribunal claims and recruitment sector legal issues. Other senior members of the team include experienced employment lawyer Dan Walker and Andy Graham who specialises in advising employers on redundancy and TUPE situations, as well as negotiating and consulting with trade unions and elected representatives.

Meet the team

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Celebrating HR excellence — HR Director of the Year Awards 2026

We were proud to co-host the inaugural North West and North Wales HR Director of the Year Awards 2026 alongside our friends at Adaptable Recruitment and Rathbones. The event brought together and celebrated the region’s best HR leaders, with the winners for ‘Outstanding Leadership’ hailing from Liverpool Football Club, Peel Ports Group, RSK Group Ltd, Tiger Trailers Ltd, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Carpenters Group and RED Systems Ltd.

The awards further highlighted the not-for-profit sector and those leading innovation and impactful change, with the overall winner and HR Director of the Year award going to Lisa Shaftesley from Booking.com.

Our Head of Employment, Pensions and Immigration, Nick Campbell, said: “The strongest organisations are those that recognise their people as their greatest asset and the HR leaders celebrated through these awards are leading the way in aligning people strategy with business strategy to deliver meaningful, long-term impact.

We work closely with HR teams across the North, supporting them on everything from managing people risk to delivering strategic transformation. For us, being involved in the HRD Awards is about more than sponsorship, it’s about championing a community we genuinely value and recognising successes that so often happen behind the scenes.”

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Our employment law services

Recognised as a top tier firm by The Legal 500 2026

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“Brabners is my go-to firm when I need any help from a legal perspective. The employment team is always brilliant to deal with — helpful, speaking in plain English (not legal jargon) and commercial in outlook and approach.”
Client feedback, Legal 500, 2027

“Brabners' employment team, led by Nick Campbell, is very much an extension of our in-house HR team. We rely on them for their depth of knowledge of employment law and their ability to translate that into commercial solutions.”
Client feedback, Legal 500, 2027

“Nick Campbell [is a] true leader — commercial, with the ability to assimilate a vast amount of information to advise on practical ways forward.”
Client feedback, Legal 500, 2027

“Brendan McAleese [is] extremely thorough, often thinks of unique legal arguments and gives you 100% confidence that he understands the presented situation.”
Client feedback, Legal 500, 2027

“Kate Venables is top drawer. She is fantastic with clients and gives clear advice.”
Client feedback, Legal 500, 2027

“Joe Shelston is outstanding. He has a great legal brain.”
Client feedback, Legal 500, 2027

“Andy Graham stands out as an employment lawyer through a combination of deep technical expertise, real-world commercial insight and a pragmatic, client-focused style.”
Client feedback, Legal 500, 2027