Charlotte supports employers and individuals with a range of contentious and non-contentious employment related cases

Charlotte Cowgill is a Chartered Legal Executive in Clarke Willmott’s Taunton Employment & HR team. The Team holds the prestigious ranking of Band 1 for Employment in the South West by the Legal 500 directory providing outstanding advice to our clients.

Charlotte has considerable experience of advising both employees and employers in respect of all contentious and non-contentious employment matters.

Charlotte supports businesses and employers through a wide range of issues such as drafting contracts and handbooks, advising on day-to-day employment issues such as sickness absence, disciplinaries, grievances, performance issues, restructures and redundancies, TUPE and a wide range of discrimination issues. With experience in litigation Charlotte is able to provide sound commercial advice to businesses with an eye on the most cost-effective solution.  Charlotte can assist in the delivery of your in house training.

Charlotte also assists individuals, employees and claimants, including senior executives, in their settlement agreements, negotiated exists and settlements, disputed claims and Tribunal proceedings.

Charlotte is a member of the Employment Lawyer’s Association.

Charlotte takes the time to get to know her clients and deals with matters empathetically and with sensitivity ensuring that the client is provided with tailored advice to support their needs while taking a commercial view to enable the matter to be dealt with in the most cost-effective way.

How Charlotte can help you

Charlotte advises on both contentious and non-contentious employment and HR matters including:

• Preparing contracts for all employee’s including a-typical workers and considering employment status and its implications;
• Preparing for and undertaking disciplinary, performance and grievance processes;
• Advising on restructure and redundancy consultations;
• Entering into Without Prejudice settlement discussions and negotiations with employees and their solicitors;
• Advising on TUPE transfers and consultation obligations;
• Providing advice on disclosure documents as part of the due-diligence process and reviewing and amending the employment clauses of asset purchase and share purchase agreements;
• Drafting and changing contract terms and introducing policies;
• Bringing, defending and settling employment tribunal claims; and
• Advising on data protection issues.

Experience

Employment Tribunal Work: Charlotte has successfully pursued and defended a broad range of employment claims including unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing, and unlawful deduction from wages. Charlotte also has experience in conducting preliminary hearings and judicial mediation.

Day to Day HR advice: Charlotte regularly provides advice to employers on HR processes, providing guidance on all employment aspects including disciplinaries resulting in dismissal, offers of Settlement Agreements, restructuring and changing terms and conditions. She provides clients with updates on employment legislation and guidance on how to successfully implement these changes into the business. Charlotte also regularly updates contracts and staff handbooks for various clients to ensure legal and regulatory compliance.

Settlement Agreements: Working with an employer’s contribution Charlotte regularly advises employees on Settlement Agreements and drafting agreements for employers.