Tim graduated from Cambridge University in 1982 and qualified
as a solicitor in 1985. Having spent 3 years at Wilde Sapte
in the City (now Denton Wilde Sapte), he moved “in-house”
working first for Ciba-Geigy (now Ciba) and then Lloyds Bank
plc (now Lloyds TSB) before returning to private practice in
1991 to start up an employment law unit at Hammond Suddards
(now Hammonds). Tim built this up from scratch to over 35 employment
lawyers throughout their 3 UK offices (assisting in the opening
of the Manchester and London offices) before taking up a new
challenge at Norton Rose until the Spring of 2004 when he left
to pursue a “ quality of life” career in Employment
Law Consultancy. He now splits his working time between Employment
Tribunal work (he has been a Part Time Judge since 2000 and
has now increased this judicial commitment) and Employment Law
Consultancy. He is also writing fiction for TV and radio.
At Norton Rose he was Head of the Norton Rose Employment Team
for 5 years from 1999 and for most of this time had other senior
managerial responsibilities (e.g. as Marketing Partner for the
firm on the Partnership Committee and as Team Leader for all
of the firm’s Employment, Pensions and Employee Benefit
lawyers and other “EPID” staff). In his time at
the firm the UK Employment Team trebled in size with income
increasing six fold and employment teams were set up within
many of the firm’s 21 International offices, reflecting
an influx of work and the firm’s investment in this important
area of law. In 2001 (having never made the shortlist before)
the team won The Lawyer’s national employment team of
the year on the back of work done for BMW relating to the sale
of Rover. The team was again short listed for this prestigious
award in 2002 (innovative work undertaken for Eni following
the purchase of Lasmo and subsequent reorganisation issues involving
70 jurisdictions worldwide) and also 2003 (work done for easyJet
in 2003 following on from eg the employment issues dominated
purchase of Go ). No law firm had or has ever achieved nominations
in 3 successive years. In 2002 the Team also won an IT award
for innovation when Tim launched the world’s first ever
interactive employment extranet service run by a legal firm
providing free advice to clients through the internet. It is
still a market leading product and (the firm was runner up in
the Lawyer Award for Employment in 2005) Tim left the Norton
Rose employment team in a strong position for the future.
In addition to work with corporate clients
(eg, on transactional matters and as coordinator of the Norton
Rose corporate governance programme following on from the
practical impact of Derek Higgs’ Review on the role
and effectiveness of Non-Executive Directors) Tim has been
an advocate at over 200 employment tribunal cases. He has
also personally represented clients in the High Court, the
Employment Appeal Tribunal and the European Court of Justice.
He has for a number of years been named as an employment expert
particularly in the area of boardroom disputes. In the most
recent Insider’s Guide to Legal Services Tim was one
of only 5 employment lawyers in the UK commended for his expertise
and was said to “drive the quality of the service”
his firm provided. In the 2003 Legal 500 prior to Tim leaving Norton Rose he was recommended
for his “excellent grasp of the main issues and his
calm manner” and was described (by one unnamed but quoted
client contacted by the Legal 500) as “the best employment lawyer I have ever come
across”. The Legal 500 went on to state that “his
innovative efforts, combined with glowing reports from clients,
accounts for [Norton Rose’s] swift move up the tables”.
In 2004 following his departure from Norton Rose and describing
the firm’s consequential loss the Legal 500 described
Tim as “ an Employment Visionary” and “
an immensely respected” lawyer and in 2007, three years after leaving
private practice in the City continued to describe Tim as
“one of the foremost names in Employment Law.”
Tim speaks regularly at both in-house and
external seminars, on behalf of organisations such as the
CIPD, Employment Lawyers Association, Commerce and Industry
Group and CLT where he was described as “the year’s
truly outstanding speaker”. For over ten years he was
on the CBI Employment Relations Committee liaising closely
with the DTI and government on proposed and new legislation.
Tim has also been on the CBI Working Group looking at individual
employment rights as part of an ongoing review for the Government
and has been directly involved in the recent modernisation
of Employment Tribunal procedure.
Employment cases with which Tim has been
involved (other than as an Employment Tribunal Chairman/Employment
Judge) include Eurobrokers v Rabey (garden leave), Jamont
(UK) v Mills (restrictive covenants), Bourgeois v Saga Petroleum
(race discrimination), Cantor Fitzgerald v Wallace (confidential
information), Wakeman & Ors v Quick Corporation (discrimination
and ex-pat pay differentials), Heath v Austin Hayes (disability
discrimination), Reliance Security v Woods and Others (transfer
of undertakings legislation affecting contractors), Chorion
plc v Lane (wrongful dismissal), Hyman v Equitable Life (members’
rights to bonuses), Aspden v Webbs Poultry (permanent health
insurance dispute), Nu-Swift International v Mallinson (time
limits in employment tribunals), Chorion plc v Lane (parallel
civil and tribunal proceedings) and Preston v Wolverhampton
Health Care NHS Trust (part-time pension rights) and Doherty
v British Midland Airways (whether race discrimination can
amount to a breach of contract).
Tim has published many employment law articles
and contributes to journals such as Personnel Today, ELA,
People Management, New Law Journal, QED, Employer’s
Law, The Financial Times, Commercial Lawyer, the Employers
Law Association and PLC. He is a contributor to Tolleys Employment
Service, Tolleys Employment Precedents and a number of employment
law guides including the Business Hotline “Guide to
Employment Law” (part of their business briefing services),
described by the Peterborough NHS Trust as “one of the
most user friendly summaries of employment law we have ever
read”. Tim has completed a Practical Guide to Employment
Case Law (his top 500 cases) , a Summary ( with Kemp Little
LLP) of Employment Tribunal Rules and Procedures (which he has updated for 2008 on his website)
and recently a Question
and Answer Guide (with policies) to the Disciplinary and Grievance
Procedures affecting new claims in the Employment Tribunal.
He edits and reviews Croner’s Executive Companion dealing
with questions and answers on common employment law problems.
He has appeared on TV, including Sky News and Legal Network
TV, as well as radio and is regularly quoted in the media
as an Employment Law expert.
In addition to his other consultancy work
Tim worked directly with Kemp Little Employment Team from
May 2004 to the start of 2006. During this time he assisted Kemp
Little in building their employment law practice and the success
of this can perhaps be witnessed by the fact that in 2006 the
employment team at Kemp Little were
for the first time highly recommended in both the Legal
500 and Chambers Directories with Tim’s expertise highlighted
in the editorial.
Tim Russell
Tel 07767 646 656
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