Insight into the Employment seat
Ivana Yuen
I am a trainee at Marriott Harrison whose six-month seat in the employment team is sadly drawing to a close. As I move to my third seat, I thought it may be helpful to share my insights for all the future or prospective trainees who are considering whether a seat in employment is right for them. This is the place to learn what you can expect from an employment seat at Marriott Harrison, and a few top tips if you join the team.
The work
Trainees in the employment team at Marriott Harrison are exposed to a variety of contentious and non-contentious work, with clients that span from large, well-known companies to individual employees. On any given week you may be preparing for an Employment Tribunal hearing, while also drafting a slew of service agreements and completing buy-side employment due diligence in support of the acquisition of a business.
The team, especially the Head of Employment, Bob Mecrate-Butcher, makes sure that trainees try new tasks and get outside of their comfort zones throughout their seat. With time, I was given significant responsibility, including opportunities to have one-on-one calls with clients and to negotiate settlement agreements directly with lawyers on the other side.
My ultimate highlight was working with the employment team, who are all amazing lawyers and great people, but my top three personal “task” highlights were:
Preparing for, and attending, Employment Tribunal hearings.
Tribunal-related work helped me gain a better understanding of employment law, and improved my ability to apply the law in a succinct manner. I drafted various applications to the Tribunal, drafted a list of issues that the Tribunal may refer to during hearings, prepared bundles, reviewed witness statements and liaised directly with parties on the other side. With one case in particular, after months of preparation, I found it extremely gratifying to see the team’s work culminate at a final hearing with a judgement in our client’s favour.
2. Drafting without prejudice letters to employers when we act for employees who are at risk of termination of employment.
This was one of the most personally challenging tasks during my seat because it involved free-drafting a letter that concisely and accurately set out our client’s position, potential claims and proposed settlement offer. Every letter is different, and for me, it often involved a fair bit of legal research to gain a better understanding of the requisite elements of the relevant legal claims. Despite the challenges, it was very satisfying, after weeks of negotiation following the date of an initial letter, to arrive at a settlement package with financial compensation that our client was happy with.
3. Conducting employment legal due diligence (“DD”).
As part of the investment or acquisition process, when we act for the investor or the buyer, we need to conduct legal due diligence. This is so our client understands the legal risks associated with the target company, and has recommendations on how to alleviate those risks. DD is generally a firm-wide exercise that involves input from the corporate, real estate, commercial and employment teams. Employment DD often involves reviewing service agreements, consultancy agreements, and any recent settlement agreements. I really enjoyed the DD process because it felt like a scavenger hunt for red flags to report on, it was interesting to review contracts that were obviously substandard , and my own drafting improved when I understood why certain clauses need to be drafted a certain way.
My top 5 tips
If a seat in employment aligns with your interests and objectives, here are a few tips that might be useful:
Do not assume that a template service agreement, settlement agreement or any other contract is suitable for your client’s needs. For example, as restrictive covenants are only enforceable if they go no further than reasonably necessary to protect the employer's legitimate business interests, the covenants must be carefully drafted to take account of the employee’s role and the company’s business, location(s) of operation and key business contacts / relationships. If you were to apply a broad-brush drafting approach, you potentially heighten the risk that the restrictive covenants are either deemed as unenforceable, or do not sufficiently protect the company’s business interests.
When you are preparing to lead a call with a client, consider what you are going to say in advance, anticipate what questions the client might ask, and clarify anything you do not understand with an associate or partner before you start the call. I generally feel calmer when I have written out notes that I can refer to during the call. If the client asks you a question that you do not know the answer to, do not be afraid to say that you will double check the point and circle back with an answer via email.
It is better to ask questions than to suffer in silence or guess what the answer is. Everyone on the team (including the partners) will ask questions if they are unsure about something. I probably asked Associate, Sofia Gottgens, a million questions, and she always remained approachable, clear and pragmatic.
Take the initiative to diarise Employment Tribunal deadlines for all the employment team members involved in the case. This demonstrates that you are organised and pro-active, and ensures that no one forgets to complete key tasks when they are juggling multiple matters.
Prepare a “due diligence” checklist of red or amber flags to look out for at the start of your seat, before you start reviewing any contracts. Senior Associate, Ed Belam, kindly had a chat with me at the beginning of my seat to go over employment contracts and consultancy agreements so that I could have a grasp of what are considered key terms / issues to look out for. Although my list resulting from this info session was not exhaustive, since DD needs to be tailored to the client, I found it to be useful to have a bit of a guide to ensure that I did not forget to flag anything major.
To sum up the above into broad action-points, try to: consider what your client is hoping to achieve, be open to asking for help, anticipate and action what the team may need and be organised!
Overall, I REALLY loved my time in the employment team. I was exposed to a broad range of interesting work, I worked with a supportive team, and I think my legal skills improved as a result. I see employment as a clear top seat choice for any trainee.
