Tom is a Partner in the Employment team and provides advice on all contentious and non-contentious employment law to clients across the private, public and charity sectors. Tom has particular expertise advising schools and local authorities on HR matters and a wide range of education law issues.
Tom’s clients range from national PLCs to owner-managed businesses across a wide range of sectors. He advises on the full range of employment law issues including disciplinary, performance management, redundancy, grievance and sickness absence issues.
Tom conducts his own advocacy and routinely appears in the Employment Tribunal, having also advised clients on cases in the Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal. He has significant experience of successfully defending high-value and complex litigation relating to discrimination and whistleblowing allegations, including representing clients at interim relief application hearings and judicial mediations.
He has a particular focus on advising clients on large-scale restructures (including collective consultation exercises) and complex TUPE transfers. His commercial focus involves working closely with our Corporate team to provide support to clients on employment issues arising from transactions and similar projects.
Education law
Tom advises academy trusts, independent schools, FE colleges and nurseries on HR issues. His experience in the sector (including several years as a school governor) include routinely advising on sector-specific issues including safeguarding and regulatory referrals.
He established and leads the firm’s growing practice in defending local authorities in appeals relating to Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in the First-tier Tribunal, having defended various local authorities on several hundred cases on all types of appeal. He also has a strong track record of successfully defending schools in pupil disability discrimination claims in the SEND Tribunal, where he conducts all of his own advocacy and has also acted in Upper-tier Tribunal appeals.
He is routinely sought out for his experience regarding pupil exclusions, parental complaints and SEND issues. He is instructed to clerk Independent Review Panel (IRP) and parental complaint hearings, in addition to providing day-to-day advice on these issues. He also conducts independent investigations into complex and sensitive matters under complex disciplinary, grievance, complaints and whistleblowing procedures.
