Meet the mpm legal team

Adrienne has been advising on employment law issues since 1997 and her practice is mainly supporting corporate clients, particularly in the retail sector. Clients appreciate her commercial and plain-speaking advice which focuses on finding workable and strategic solutions to tricky employee issues, from complex grievances and discrimination matters, employment tribunal litigation to restructuring, outsourcing and TUPE.

Adrienne also provides business immigration support. She works closely with international tax experts for companies who might be starting business in the UK and wish to employ migrant workers. This includes applications for sponsorship licences, the appropriate routes into the UK (which will depend on the long term aims of the migrant workers and their employers), visa applications and renewals and support to HR to ensure compliance with their duties as a sponsor.

Before joining mpm legal in 2010, Adrienne worked at Andersen Legal, Olswang and Doyle Clayton.

As an antidote to sitting at a desk all day, outside of work Adrienne can be found on a variety of hockey pitches, either playing or coaching children at club, county and regional level.

Mark has been an employment law specialist since 1999 and acts for large international corporations and national and regional businesses across all sectors. As well as businesses based in this country Mark also acts for overseas businesses looking to set up activities here and can assist not only with employment law advice but also introductions to other professionals to assist in the establishment process.

Mark’s day-to-day activities include the full spectrum of employment law. This includes matters such as advising businesses on how to protect themselves from employees that leave to work for a competitor to coaching businesses on family friendly strategies to dealing with Employment Tribunal claims.

A specialist in supporting clients with change programmes and complex workforce restructures, Mark is often involved in the formative stages of such exercises to provide both strategic and legal support. This will often will include both redundancy and outsourcing advice as well as changes to senior and Board level appointments.

Prior to establishing mpm legal in 2008 Mark was a partner in the Employment, Industrial Relations and Employee Benefits team of a leading London and regional law firm. Mark is ranked in the Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession as a Leading Individual and is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Mark is married and has three (noisy) sons.

Michael has specialised in employment law and practice since 1992. He routinely acts for global businesses, many of which are household names, where his professional relationships go back many years, in one case, 32 years! He also represents senior executive and managers. His practice areas cover the full gambit of employment and HR matters, both contentious and non-contentious, and he has advocated cases before the county courts, the employment tribunals as well as the employment appeal tribunal over his long career.

He regularly advises and assists employers on the design and delivery of workplace re-structuring and redundancy schemes and the employment consequences of business transfers and outsourcing.

His first love is litigation and dispute resolution, where he feels most at home. His focus in this area is helping businesses and individuals find alternative outcomes to their conflicts, avoiding the tired, ineffective, time-consuming and expensive formal internal and litigation processes.   He has developed innovative ways for businesses to approach conflict management more effectively and efficiently, including designing and developing internal mediation schemes as well as resolution procedures. Mediation appointments and mediation training are regular features of Michael’s practice.

Michael also has an active international practice, where he regularly manages the law relationships and business projects for clients in the USA, Northern Europe, the Nordics and Australasia. He is particularly experienced in working with foreign lawyers, helping clients establish, expand and develop their business presences here and abroad.

He is a member of the Employment Lawyer’s Association, the Law Society, the CMC and ICLEF.

His passions outside of the law include family – he also has two grown-up sons and a grand-daughter (all of whom are also very noisy), music and spending time in his home studio, all things sporting, films and travelling.

Laura is an experienced employment solicitor who advises employers of all sizes, from owner-managed businesses to larger organisations, on the full spectrum of employment law issues. With over 15 years’ post-qualification experience, she provides strategic, commercially focused advice on both contentious and non-contentious matters.

She has extensive experience in defending Employment Tribunal claims, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing and TUPE-related disputes, as well as advising on complex employee relations issues. 

Her non-contentious/advisory practice encompasses drafting and advising on employment contracts, service agreements, restrictive covenants, workplace policies, settlement agreements, organisational change projects and senior-level departures.

 Known for her pragmatic and responsive approach, Laura works in partnership with clients to understand their commercial objectives and provide solutions that are legally robust, proportionate and aligned with the needs of the business. Whether dealing with day-to-day HR matters or significant strategic projects, she focuses on helping clients manage risk while achieving practical outcomes.

Nicola advises businesses in a variety of sectors on all aspects of employment law – including complex disciplinary and grievance processes, absence management, re-organisations and redundancies. Nicola also supports the solicitors in the firm with their litigation caseloads.

Nicola started her legal career via a different pathway to the traditional law degree and training contract route. Starting as a Legal Secretary in an employment law team in 2011 whilst undertaking evening studies at the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx), Nicola progressed through various legal advisory roles, qualifying as a Fellow of CILEx in 2016. Nicola is a member of CILEx and the Employment Lawyers Association.

Outside of work, Nicola can be found on a paddleboard (although less likely in the winter months – fair weather paddler!) or carrying out a range of activities with her dog, including obedience and competition showing. And yes, Nicola’s dog also paddleboards!

Victoria initially started out as an employment lawyer. In 2012, she fell into immigration law as part of her employment practice and never looked back.

Day to day, Victoria works closely with clients to ensure they can hire the talent they need – supporting CEOs, Talent Acquisition, HR and the prospective hires themselves across a wide variety of visa applications.  She regularly handles Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility, and Tier 5 applications – through to Indefinite Leave to Remain and British citizenship for new hires and their family. Since Brexit, Victoria has also seen an increase in clients requesting support with business visitor applications and entry to the UK.

Victoria’s client base tends to be in management consultancy, accountancy firms, retail, oil and gas, software, machine learning/AI and any other industries that require specialist workers or niche skills. She also has particular expertise in assisting start-ups with their immigration journey in the UK. With her connections with global immigration lawyers and other professionals such as tax and accountancy contacts, Victoria has recently secured a number of sponsor licences on a priority basis for US start ups looking to grow their business, post-Brexit, and connected them to other professionals for payroll and tax support.

Compliance is a strong focus for Victoria’s practice, so she also offers advice on right to work, record keeping and maintenance of sponsor licence, as well as running mock audits so clients can be sure they will be on a strong footing if the Home Office ever knocks on their door.

Outside of work, Victoria enjoys brewing beer (particularly a US IPA), going to festivals and rock gigs, HIIT training and grumbling through her 5K runs.

Charlie is a junior lawyer who specialises in employment law. She initially practiced both general litigation and employment but soon decided that employment was the area she wanted to pursue.

She enjoys advising companies on various issues, which includes defending employment tribunal cases, dealing with capability and sickness absences processes, drafting employment contracts and consultancy agreements, and everything in between!

What Charlie loves most about what she does is building relationships with her clients and being a trusted adviser, who clients know they can turn to when problems arise.

Outside of work, Charlie spends her time with her family and friends, going on long dogs walks or eating out/cooking something tasty.

Verity is an employment law expert and tribunal litigator.

Recognised for being “a great listener, who asks good probing questions and makes clients think about all areas of risk”, she has a reputation for navigating her clients through their complex workplace issues with her no-nonsense, sound business approach to finding solutions.

Verity enjoys advising her clients on a wide variety of day to day employment issues. Her particular focus and expertise are around advising clients on complex, and highly sensitive disciplinary and grievance issues. Her methodical and strategic approach has given her clients the tools to overcome some very difficult ER issues.

She also has specialist experience in working with clients on large scale projects (restructuring, outsourcing, changing terms and conditions and TUPE). Her expertise lies in advising clients on all aspects of projects work, from developing an HR project plan, to drafting the document portfolio, and offering practical guidance and resolutions right from the outset of the project planning, all the way through to the end of the process.

Verity has over 10 years’ of tribunal litigation experience, and her particular interest has been defending multi-discrimination claims. Known for her sound business acumen, Verity has a reputation of achieving successful results for clients.

Learning and training is an essential part of employee relations for Verity’s key clients, and her friendly and approachable style means she is regularly asked to provide clients with in-house training. Verity’s training sessions are practical, interesting and engaging. She creates bespoke sessions for her clients to fit the needs of the business and their key HR priorities.

When Verity is not busy running around after her three young children, she enjoys weight training and cooking something delicious for her family.