Deborah is a very experienced specialist in employment law, and has been accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as such since 2011. She frequently advises clients on all aspects of employment law, including drafting employment contracts and policies, disciplinary and grievance hearings performance and ill health issues, discrimination, redundancy, business transfers, and severance of senior executives. She is also often asked to provide training to clients, law students and other solicitors in employment law.
Deborah has extensive expertise in employment law litigation, and has appeared in Employment Tribunals throughout Scotland and England. She has represented both public sector clients (including those in the criminal justice and education sectors) and private sector (from small independent businesses to some of the largest public companies in the UK).
She has also sat on a number of academic grievance appeal hearings as an independent chair.
- Successfully defending the University of Glasgow in two discrimination claims with extensive issues and lengthy hearings.
- Representing other Further Education clients in claims of discrimination, unfair dismissal, redundancy, and in relation to fixed term contracts.
- Advising a University on the management of a sensitive situation involving an employee with mental health issues who had threatened to commit suicide on University premises.
- Advising on the disciplinary procedure in relation to a member of academic staff who made inappropriate sexual advances to a student he was supervising.
- Advising a college on the dismissal of their Principal and the Board secretary, and playing a key part in the successful defence of an employment tribunal claim related to this.
- Advising on contract and policy issues, including drafting the contract of employment for a University Principal.
- Conducting extensive independent investigations for three separate Further Education Institutions into allegations of wrongdoing. In all cases the allegations were made against members of the Senior Management Team.
- Providing employment law advice for companies operating waste from energy recycling plants, including drafting contracts of employment, dealing with disciplinary, performance, grievance and sickness absence issues, assisting with union negotiations over pay, advising on holiday pay issues, and successfully representing one of the clients in employment tribunal litigation.
- Advising a University on the management of a sensitive situation involving an employee with mental health issues who had threatened to commit suicide on University premises.
- Advising a college on the dismissal of their Principal and the Board secretary, and playing a key part in the successful defence of an employment tribunal claim related to this.
- Representing an oil and gas client in a four-day employment tribunal against allegations of unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.
- Acting for large public sector clients on a range of major infrastructure projects, in particular on complex Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) issues involving contractors and sub-contractors.
