“When I first became an employment lawyer I was drawn to the mixture of law and social policy, business, people and advocacy, and that remains true to this day. People are at the heart of everything I do, which keeps it interesting even after more than 25 years.”

Neil leads our Employment team. He helps clients to navigate the complexities of employment and equality law, and also collaborates with our Pensions, Tax, Employee Incentives and Immigration teams to deliver our wider human resources service.

Neil has particular expertise in managing complex business transfers and restructuring programmes, including TUPE and redundancy, collective consultation and industrial relations issues, and insolvency. He is also an experienced advocate in employment tribunals and employment appeals tribunals, and has also used mediation to resolve disputes successfully. A frequent speaker at employment law events, he is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in Employment Law.

Areas of practice include:

Sector experience includes:

Admitted

1997: Scotland

Relevant experience

Advising three of Scotland’s four Ancient Universities on a wide range of employment law and HR matters, including representation in Employment Tribunal proceedings, mediations on various issues, development of policies and contracts, spin-outs and commercialisation, TUPE, voluntary severance and restructuring.
Advising a Scottish public sector employer on a breakdown between the Chief Executive, another senior employee and the Board Chair, requiring the temporary removal of all three from office, the co-ordination of two separate independent investigations, and the resultant disciplinary process; then successfully defending claims of unfair dismissal, whistleblowing detriment and sex discrimination brought before the Employment Tribunal.
Advising a US-headquartered healthcare company on the closure of its Scottish manufacturing facility and transfer of production to continental Europe, whilst retaining an administrative function in Scotland, including strategic advice on the structure and timing of the closure programme and supporting the collective redundancy consultation process.
Advising a leading travel comparison site on Board-level changes, including negotiating the exits of directors, and co-ordinating shares, tax and employment advice.
Advising an international sports governing body and regulator in relation to transgender participation in the sport both before and after the Supreme Court’s decision in the For Women Scotland case.
Advising NHS Highland on how to resolve a culture of bullying and harassment, which led to the creation of the unique and unprecedented NHS Highland Healing Process.
Serving as a member of the Healing Process Independent Review Panel, which considered and adjudicated on approximately 275 claims of historic bullying and harassment, and which recommended remedies including letters of apology, counselling, financial payments, re-engagement/re-instatement and other organisational action.
Advising a leading clean energy JV partnership on agency worker agreements with third-party labour suppliers, including co-ordinating tax advice on IR35, on the employment aspects of development services agreements, and on the two options for resourcing the partnership. Also co-ordinating immigration advice in relation to workers who passed through the UK on their way to and from a third-party vessel.
Advising a leading US-based games company in relation to the employment aspects of a number of acquisitions of UK businesses.
Advising a German-headquartered company to deliver the employment aspects of a multi-million-pound contract to supply and maintain engineering plant in the UK, including advice on the applicability and terms of the NAECI Agreement, collective bargaining in the UK, and minimum wage and immigration issues.
Advising a Spanish-headquartered construction company on the employment aspects of an energy-from-waste project in the North-East of Scotland, including advice on the application and terms of the NAECI Agreement. Also advising on a proposed acquisition of UK assets, working with the client’s HR team in relation to employment due diligence, the employment provisions in the SPA and advising on TUPE and the required information and consultation process with the transferring employees.
Advising a leading UK construction company on whistleblowing and related concerns raised by an anonymous complainer working on HS2, including investigating the concerns and recommending actions to be taken.
Advising a leading Scottish public body on the handling of complex whistleblowing complaints, which included advice in relation to complaints made to the Information Commissioner, Charity Commissioner, Public Services Ombudsman, and Police; managing the dismissal of the complainant employee; and successfully dealing with multiple complaints to the Employment Tribunal before and after the employee’s dismissal.
Advising numerous clients on the enforcement of restrictive covenants and confidentiality undertakings, dealing with caveats and interim interdict proceedings, dawn raids, and resolution of claims and counterclaims.
Advising clients on cross-border and international employment issues, in collaboration with contacts in the World Services Group.

“Neil Maclean is an absolute expert in employment law but with a talent for understanding business and the commercial application. Under Neil’s leadership, the entire team is there when you need them, responsive, informed and highly effective.”

Legal 500 (2022)

Further testimonials

“He provides great support, both on a legal technical level but also in understanding the commercial dynamics for clients.”

Chambers (2024)

“Neil is hugely competent in his field. He is pragmatic and able to consider different perspectives.”

Chambers (2024)

“Neil is very highly regarded.”

Chambers (2024)

“Neil Maclean is a stand-out lawyer. Neil is an expert in employment law and is particularly adept at assessing and advising in the context of business risk and opportunity. The quality of advice received is second to none. Neil’s approach is pragmatic, he’s responsive and understands our priorities. I particularly appreciate Neil’s calm approach when objectivity may be thin on the ground from my perspective! I rely on Neil to ensure we make the best decisions when it comes to both contentious and non-contentious employment law situations.”

Legal 500 (2022)