Employment Law Solicitors: Supporting Startups & SMEs in London

Dragon Argent’s employment law solicitors in London can help businesses take the stress and uncertainty out of hiring staff and support ongoing incentivisation and management.

Our employment law lawyers in London guide businesses in the UK through a range of contentious and non-contentious employment issues by offering consultative advice both offline and online including:

Alternatively call us on 02076860000 or send your enquiry to ask@dragonargent.com

TRUSTED BY FOUNDERS, STARTUPS & SMEs

Dragon Argent provides a bespoke, consultative employment law experience for our clients across the entire lifecycle of building and managing a team. 

We create the legal foundation on which to recruit, incentivise and retain your team and if things do not work out, guide you through disputes and minimise liabilities. We have specialist expertise around the key employment issues that tech startups & SMEs face, including data protection, intellectual property, and post-termination restrictions. 

Our balanced, risk-based HR and employment law advice will empower you to stay ahead of change, keep you fully informed and support you to make decisions with confidence. We pride ourselves on providing you with an accessible, high-quality service, personally delivered by our dedicated employment solicitors.  

 
 
 

Hear what our clients think:

I recently used Dragon Argent after they were recommended by a friend and can honestly say that their service was outstanding. In contrast to other law firms that I have used before, Dragon Argent seemed to genuinely want to help me and didn’t exhibit the usual lawyer behaviour of giving impersonal stock advice.  

Working predominantly with their employment lawyer around an unfair dismissal/unfair redundancy case, I was given specific advice and recommendations that helped me to navigate the process with legal counsel every step of the way. Their customer service was fantastic: always responsive and accommodating, and even drafting something at short notice while on annual leave to ensure that I was prepared for a meeting. Whenever a curveball was thrown our way, Dragon Argent rapidly found a path forwards. I am very pleased with the outcome and can honestly say Dragon Argent will be my first port of call in the future. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to others.

 

EMPLOYMENT LAW SOLICIORS FOR EMPLOYERS

 WHAT MAKES OUR EMPLOYMENT SERVICES SO VALUABLE FOR CLIENTS?

We support clients across a range of BAU and high-level employment matters:

  • Contract drafting and advice

  • Staff handbooks and policies

  • Full-time, part-time, or fixed term working arrangements

  • Maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave

We assist private SME's on various general employment matters:

  • Structuring employee benefits

  • Contractor and consultancy agreements

  • Post-termination restrictions

  • Intellectual property and data protection 

We help clients dealing with contentious employment matters such as:

  • Dismissal disputes

  • Disciplinaries and grievances

  • ACAS and tribunal claims

  • Settlement agreements

We support international businesses on UK set-up, guiding clients through:

  • Conflicting statutory requirements in employment law between jurisdictions

  • Identifying appropriate immigration routes

  • Devise cash plans and incentives, structuring them tax efficiently

  • Secondment agreements

 

 MEET THE EMPLOYMENT LAW TEAM

Commercial, proactive & pragmatic. Our multilingual team deliver technically robust advice across a range of subject areas, never losing sight of our clients’ objectives.

 

Cacy Neilson

Head of Employment and Legal Operations

Didi Ogbo

Employment Solicitor

Margherita Barbagallo

Head of Litigation, IP & Art Law

Louise Marshall

Data & Privacy Consultant

Sara Maghouz

Trainee Solicitor

Nilojana Nirmalan

Trainee Solicitor

 

GOT A QUESTION ABOUT EMPLOYMENT LAW?

Dragon Argent are an experienced employment law solicitors, based in the heart of central London. Book a 30 minute call to find out how our specialist lawyers can support you or your business employment issues.

Alternatively call us on 02076860000 or send your enquiry to ask@dragonargent.com

 
 
 

FREQUENTLY ASKED TAX QUESTIONS

  • Yes, we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and must adhere to their professional conduct standards at all times. We are regularly audited and always work in our clients best interests.

  • Lawyers represent their clients’ interests in the formation of any agreement or negotiation. We help our clients structure the rules under which they operate their businesses and engage with stakeholders - be they investors, clients, employees or service providers. We help mitigate risk, ensure compliance and protect your long term interests. Legal advice is critical for the long term health of a company and can significantly contribute to the enterprise value of a business.

  • Since 2017, it does not cost anything to make a Tribunal claim and that has seen the number of claims increase exponentially. If a disgruntled employee wants to make a claim against you, all they need is a laptop and a spare 10 minutes. Once that claim is submitted, you are into a process which is not easy or quick to get out of. The average compensation payment in an unfair dismissal claim is around £15,000 and legal fees can often match that. More complex case types such as discrimination can cost more, with the average award for age discrimination in 2019/20 coming in at £38,794. As a result, it makes sense to have the right support in place should you need advice, as well as Legal Expenses Insurance to cover these costs.

  • The Equality Act identifies nine ‘protected characteristics’: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. It is unlawful to treat somebody less favourably based on them having one of these characteristics, because you perceive them to have one of these characteristics (even if they don’t), or due to their association with somebody who does. This is known as direct discrimination. An example would be promoting a male employee over a more qualified female candidate. Employers must also be aware of indirect discrimination – where a policy, procedure or rule which applies to everyone has the effect that people with a certain protected characteristic are put at a disadvantage to those who don’t share it. An example would be a policy requiring staff to work on Sundays, which could indirectly discriminate against people of certain religions who cannot work on this day.

  • The Good Work Plan, which came into force on 6 April 2020, introduced several changes to employment law intended to improve the rights of employees and workers. Three significant changes include

    • The requirement to provide a written statement of terms on or before the first day of employment (as opposed to within two months from the employee’s start date)

    • The reference period for calculating an average week’s pay for holiday purposes is now 52 weeks (rather than 12),

    • The requirement to provide additional information within the Contract of Employment, including normal working hours, benefits and sick pay entitlement

    Our Employment Law specialists can review your contractual documentation to make sure it’s fit for purpose and reflects these changes, and if not, revise your contracts or provide you with carefully crafted new ones.

  • Failing to provide an employee with a contract could lead to additional compensation being awarded to an employee who successfully makes another sort of claim against their employer. In addition, a number of practical problems could be caused by having incorrect contracts, such as paying too little (or too much) notice, getting holiday entitlement wrong and failing to protect legitimate business interests in the face of an employee leaving for a competitor.

  • The coronavirus pandemic has changed the employment relationship in many ways, creating numerous challenges for employers. We’ve seen entirely new concepts of law develop: self-isolation, shielding, furlough, flexible furlough, Job Support Schemes and now an extended furlough scheme. Government guidance has been any combination of piecemeal, contradictory and last minute. It has been incredibly challenging for our Employment Law experts to stay abreast of all these changes, so it must be almost impossible for business owners. Our free Coronavirus Advice Hub was born out of a desire to pull all the different bits of guidance together and break it down into easily digestible chunks for employers. It epitomises what our Employment Law team does best, delivering pragmatic and commercial advice to help employers solve their people problems.