Tim graduated from Cambridge University in 1982 and qualified as a solicitor in 1985. Having spent 3 years at Wilde Sapte in the City, he moved "in-house" working first for Ciba-Geigy and then Lloyds Bank plc before returning to private practice in 1991 to start up an employment law unit at Hammond Suddards . It seems a long time ago as every firm/company has now changed its name! Tim built the Hammonds' team 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 2005 when he left to pursue a " quality of life" career in Employment Law Consultancy. He is still a practising solicitor but now splits his working time between Employment Tribunal work (he has been a Fee Paid Judge sitting for some 40 days a year since 2000 ) and being an Employment Law adviser as a sole practitioner working principally for executives and small businesses. He also writes 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 e.g. the employment issues
dominated purchase of Go ). No law firm had 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 Tim left the Norton Rose employment team in a strong position for the future.
In addition to work with corporate clients (e.g., 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 250 employment tribunal
cases. He has also personally represented clients in the High Court, the
Employment Appeal Tribunal and the European Court of Justice. He was for a number of
years 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 Legal 500 immediately 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 the FD of a PLC client 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". 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 who would be a huge loss to the firm and for many years after leaving private practice in the City continued to describe Tim as "one of the foremost names in Employment Law."
Tim used to speak 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 has been described as "the year's truly outstanding speaker". He does so less now but still runs in house training programmes.
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 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 has contributed 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
" 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 and edits
and reviews Croner's Executive Companion dealing with questions and answers on
common employment law problems. He has appeared on TV many times, including Sky News
Legal Network TV and even Women's Hour.
In addition to his other consultancy work Tim worked directly with Kemp Little
Employment Team after leaving Norton Rose. He assisted Kemp Little in building their
employment law practice and the success of this can perhaps be witnessed by the fact
that just before his consultancy ( this was initially meant to be for 6 months but he
was asked to stay 2 years ) came to an end 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.
In recent years Tim has undertaken work for the Football League Disciplinary Panel and was from 2010 to 2018 "special counsel" for the firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman focusing on European Employment issues for this American based multinational firm. Since 2018 he has fulfilled a similar role for Anthony Jimenez and Partners based in Central London .He also continues to run his own practice as well as his other work commitments. These include his appointment as an Employment Judge in the Central London ET (since 1999), work which he has done for over two decades sitting for ( usually ) around 75 preliminary and or full hearings a year often by Cloud Video Platform ( CVP ) in these Covid days . As Tim is a Qualified Mediator he also conducts Judicial Mediations.
Tim acts for many employees leaving large multinational companies as a preferred independent adviser chosen by 4 separate banks/financial institutions including Goldman Sachs to advise departing employees on draft settlement agreements . He is particularly experienced in acting for employees in the financial sector and in the area of restrictive covenants. He is often instructed to assist in litigation outside the UK and has acted as an Employment Law Expert in the USA on a number of occasions .
Tim Russell
Tel 07767 646 656
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