Throughout her career as an employment law specialist, Eleanor has regularly advised private clients and numerous public sector bodies on a wide range of issues, including conducting large scale redundancies and reorganisations and dealing with the implications of TUPE.

Eleanor also has significant experience in defending multiple equal pay cases in the public sector as well as successfully defending numerous claims for discrimination and unfair dismissal brought by individual employees in the private sector. Eleanor deals with employment tribunal litigation, settlement agreements, pre-termination negotiations, disciplinary and grievance issues and performance and absence management issues. 

Eleanor regularly presents seminars and training sessions to clients and wider business audiences, recently delivering training in collaboration with ACAS and sitting on the panel of experts for business forums.

Work history

Eleanor trained with City law firm Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright) before moving to Cardiff upon qualification in 2008 where she joined Geldards LLP. Eleanor progressed from Solicitor to Associate with Geldards LLP and moved to Hugh James in February 2015 as a Senior Associate within the Employment & HR Services team.

• Hugh James as Senior Associate in the Employment & HR Services team: February 2015 - present
• Geldards LLP  Solicitor and then Associate in the Employment team in Cardiff: 2008-2015
• Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright) in London (Trainee): 2006-2008 
• Oxford Institute of Legal Practice (Legal Practice Course): 2006
• Oxford University (BA Law (Jurisprudence)) (2:1): 2005

Experience 

• Advising on reorganisation and restructure at a high level of Senior Management for private sector clients, including handling exit negotiations
• Advising public sector body on strategy to effect removal of premium payments in face of opposition from Trade Unions
• Providing advice to a number of clients across the public and private sectors in relation to holiday pay arrangements in light of significant case law developments. Delivering training sessions covering the same.
• Advising on defence of high worth equal pay litigation for a number of Welsh local authorities over the course of several years.
• Day to day handling of equal pay claims for four Welsh local authorities totalling circa 4,500 claims including responsibility for attending Employment Tribunal to handle numerous preliminary hearings and case management discussions.
• Putting together training sessions for school governing bodies on handling redundancies and dismissal exercises more generally.
• Advising Welsh Government and interim team on the employment aspects involved in the creation of the new Natural Resources Wales body involving a number of original legacy bodies and transfers from within Welsh Government itself.
• Collaborating with numerous parties, including UK wide government bodies, on the drafting of the Natural Resources Wales statutory Transfer Scheme brought into force in April 2013.
• Successful defence of a claim for race discrimination and unfair dismissal brought against a university body attracting media interest.
• Advising Welsh local authority on the defence of an historic equal pay claim brought by a school lab technician following the merger of the employee's school with another local school.
• Successful defence of three (joined) claims for age discrimination arising out of the same redundancy exercise ultimately resolved through settlement.
• Advising a housing association on compliance with the Data Protection Act in relation to photography and images captured by the media. Advising on the issue of consent in relation to photographs of minors.
• Delivering training sessions to members sitting on Disciplinary and Dismissal Committee and Appeal Committees in a number of different Local Authorities including training on the application of the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (Wales) Regulations 2006 (as amended).
• Amending and re-drafting extensive Welsh Government statutory guidance for maintained schools and local authorities on the school disciplinary and dismissal process.
• Advising individual nursing practitioner on claims for constructive dismissal and whistleblowing in relation to protected disclosures about breaches of patients' health and safety.