Meet the martin searle solicitors Legal Team

Fiona Martin

Director
email Fiona Martin

I lead the employment teams in our Brighton and Croydon solicitors offices as well as working as an employment law solicitor. As founding director, I am responsible for the firm’s marketing. I provide expert opinion for the press, disseminate employment law round-ups through my employment law blog and campaign on important issues such as maternity and disability discrimination. I also train employers and HR professionals to be best practice managers. Areas of expertise

I have particular expertise in:

• Pregnancy and maternity discrimination law
• TUPE transactions
• Compromise Agreements
• Restructuring and redundancy
• Dismissal procedures
• Employment Tribunal claims

My clients

My clients range from national and international multi-site employers to small companies with a few people, and individual employees. I also work with the commercial departments of other law firms where they lack specialist employment advisers.

Some recent highlights

• Setting up the successful HR Digital Media Group with local HR partners to encourage best practice in this sector.
• Advising union members in relation to the National Single Status Agreement.
• Winning age discrimination and breach of contract claims for an apprentice.
• Training GP practice managers and HR business partners of a large firm of solicitors.
• Helping a school understand its TUPE requirements when it was looking to merge with another school.
• Advising and representing a redundant solicitor in relation to unfair dismissal.
• Acting for a number of law firms on contentious and non-contentious issues.
• Successfully bringing a large number of sex discrimination cases and obtaining compensation for employees who had been discriminated against while on maternity leave.
• Advising a director whose previous employer had instigated High Court proceedings against the company.

Qualifications and memberships

I have a BA Hons History from the University of Sussex and did the Law conversion course at the University of Brighton where I met my co-director Cate Searle. I completed the solicitors law finals course at Guildford College of Law. I am a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Other experience

I previously worked for a trade union firm and latterly for a large commercial law firm so I have wide experience of dealing with clients and opponents from all walks of life.

I support a number of community initiatives including the Business Community Partnership and Wired Sussex.

I am also on the Employer Engagement group, a forum of all school and college Heads in the city, which seeks to influence the way schools and colleges engage with employers, supports learning and provides employability skills to young people. I also run regular campaigns to provide maternity discrimination advice to both employers and employees.

I have a life too

I am a party person and regularly go to live music events and festivals. I enjoy a huge range of music from opera to pop. I am an avid reader and a member of a book club and also enjoy travelling. Friends and family are very important to me and I love to entertain, whether it is cooking or mixing a mean cocktail.

Marsha Thompson

Director and Solicitor
email Marsha Thompson

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I am a specialist employment lawyer based in our Croydon and Brighton offices. I advise and support employers and employees with contentious and non-contentious employment law issues. Areas of expertise

I have particular expertise in:

• Compromise Agreements
• Workplace discrimination claims
• Interactive employment law training for voluntary and private sector employers
• Bringing and defending unfair dismissal claims
• Acas Code on disciplinary and grievance procedures

My clients

I act for employers across the region – from small startups with a handful of employees to companies of thousands with numerous sites. I also work with individual employees helping them challenge unfair workplace practices and advising on Compromise Agreements.

Some recent highlights

• Working on a successful Judicial Mediation acting for an employee bringing a pregnancy discrimination and unfair dismissal claim.
• Increasing Compromise Agreement settlement offers by as much as 75 per cent.
• Bringing a high-profile unfair dismissal case involving foreign royalty.
• Advising on a serious whistleblowing claim involving allegations of anti-Semitism.

Qualifications and memberships

I have a Legal Practice Post-Graduate Diploma from the College of Law, London, and a BA Hons Law and French from London Guildhall University. I also have a Diplôme des Etudes Universitairés Françaises and a Diploma in French Law from Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3.

I am a member of:

• Employment Lawyers Association
• Sussex and Surrey Law Societies
• Croydon and London Chambers of Commerce
• Black Solicitors Network
• LEADER (Local Employers Acting on Diversity Equality and Race)

Other experience

I run a legal advice surgery for the Redhill Employment Support Retraining Agency (ESRA) – see the events page for forthcoming dates. I also help voluntary organisations working with the Business Community Partnership’s Pro Help scheme. Through the Black Solicitors Network I offer careers advice to prospective trainees.

I am a member of the Law Society’s Equality and Diversity Forum.

I have a life too

I am fluent in French, play the piano and love dancing – I studied performing arts at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London for seven years. I love soul/R&B and most weekends I am out with friends dancing and socialising.

Wendy Smith

Employment Law Solicitor
email Wendy Smith

I am based in the Brighton office where I advise employers and employees on a range of employment law issues. I also provide employment law training to HR professionals and senior managers. Areas of expertise

I have particular expertise in:

• Drafting and negotiating Compromise Agreements
• Employment Tribunal claims for unfair dismissal and discrimination
• Internal grievances and appeals
• Transfer and reorganisation of business, including TUPE
• Restrictive covenants
• Restructure and redundancy procedures
• High Court proceedings for breach of contract in conjunction with Employment Tribunal proceedings

My clients

I work with local employees and employers, including a number of legal expense insurers, to achieve positive outcomes in a wide variety of Employment Tribunal claims and defences.

Recent highlights

• Negotiating and advising on a Compromise Agreement for an employee whose employer varied his contract without consent.
• Advising on a constructive dismissal claim and successfully negotiating a substantial settlement.
• Negotiating a settlement in excess of £40,000 on an unlawful deduction of wages claim for non-payment of commission, and compensation for failure to consult on a TUPE transfer.
• Successfully defending an employer in an Employment Tribunal claim for unfair dismissal.
• Helping an employer balance the needs of the business while dealing fairly with a flexible working application from an employee on maternity leave.
• Helping a charity follow a fair redundancy selection procedure to preserve the morale of remaining employees.

Qualifications and memberships

I studied Law at Southampton University and have a Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law, Chester. I also have a Masters in Employment Law from the University of Surrey.

Other experience

I trained with a top 100 law firm and remained with them for several years after qualifying.  I have also worked in the legal department of a large banking plc and an employment consultancy. I joined martin searle solicitors in 2009.

Outside of work I am an employment legal adviser for the BPP Pro Bono Centre which operates a variety of pro bono projects in the local community. I am also a local authority governor at Hertford Infant and Nursery School.

I am a member of:

• The Law Society of England and Wales
• The Employment Lawyers Association
• The Industrial Law Society
• The Institute of Employment Rights
• Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce

I have a life too

I enjoy sailing and I am a member of the Brighton & Hove Sailing Club and Newhaven & Seaford Sailing Club. I also like skiing and cycling, especially with my family. I belong to a local book group and am an avid reader.  I am also learning to play the piano.  I enjoy live entertainment and learning to understand modern art with my children.

Matthew Grant

Employment caseworker

email Matthew Grant

I am a specialist caseworker based in our Brighton solicitors office. I work in both the employment and community care and housing teams. I originally trained as a barrister and am now converting to become a solicitor.

Areas of expertise

I have particular expertise in:

• Equal pay claims and pay disputes under collective agreements
• Workplace discrimination claims
• Unfair dismissal
• Breach of contract
• Advocacy and Employment Tribunal proceedings
• NHS continuing healthcare
• Charging for residential accommodation guide

My clients

In the employment team I act for and advise employees and employers alike.

In the community care and housing team I advise relatives of those with health and care needs, landlords and tenants.

Some recent highlights

Recent highlights in the employment team include:

• Acting for a former company director and their spouse and settling claims involving age discrimination, associative age discrimination, unfair dismissal and fraud allegations.
• Representing a former employee at a pre-hearing review where there were concurrent Employment Tribunal and County Court proceedings.
• Acting in a National Minimum Wage Act claim in the County Court.
• Obtaining a substantial settlement for a former business manager for claims including unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, victimisation, breach of contract and equal pay.

In the community care and housing team recent highlights include:

• Challenging the fairness of a care home contract’s terms.
• Defending a County Court claim for unpaid care home fees involving a dispute with the local authority.
• Drafting written representations and grounds of appeal to support applications for NHS continuing healthcare.
• Advising on ‘turf wars’ between Strategic Health Authorities.
• Advising small landlords in rent arrears cases and issuing possession claims.

Qualifications and memberships

I graduated from the University of Northumbria in 2008 with First Class Honours, excelling as Best Graduating Student in the Bar Exempting degree programme. I completed a one-year placement as an Erasmus student at the Université d’Orléans. I am a Churchill scholar of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn and a member of the Employment Law Bar Association.

Other experience

In my former job I represented multiple claimants in high-value and complex equal pay claims against public authorities. Working with a specialist legal team, I represented public sector workers in Employment Tribunals across the UK, obtaining substantial compensation awards on their behalf.

Previously, I spent five years as a volunteer adviser at the Newcastle Citizen’s Advice Bureau where I helped clients on a range of legal issues. I also worked as a student adviser in the employment team at the University of Northumbria’s student law office dealing with Employment Tribunal claims – here I discovered a passion for advising and representing employees in this fast-developing area of law.

I have a life too

I am fluent in French and currently learning Italian. I also enjoy reading philosophy and watching European cinema. Outside of work I enjoy watching sport, walking and playing badminton. I am an enthusiastic traveller.

Claire Butler

Solicitor

email Claire Butler

I am the latest recruit to martin searle solicitors and joined the team in October 2010. I am a specialist employment lawyer based in our Brighton office where I help employers and employees with contentious and non-contentious employment law issues. Areas of expertise

I have gained particular expertise in:

• Unfair dismissal
• Grievances and constructive dismissal
• Disability discrimination including harassment and victimisation
• Compromise Agreements
• Drafting employment contracts and handbooks

My clients

I act for employers across the region, from small start ups with just one employee to large companies with multiple sites. I also work with employees helping them challenge unfair workplace practices and advising on Compromise Agreements.

Some recent highlights

I have only been with the firm a short time, but already I’ve enjoyed:

• Advising on issues relating to a TUPE transfer and subsequent redundancy
• Advising and signing off Compromise Agreements
• Drafting complex claims and defences ( ET1 and ET3’s)
• Drafting staff handbooks and contracts of employment.

With my previous firm I enjoyed:

• Advocating on behalf of clients at case management discussions
• Instigating without prejudice negotiations

Qualifications

I have a BA Hons in English and American literature and History of Art from the University of Kent. I undertook the Graduate Diploma in Law at the College of Law in London and my Legal Practice Course at the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice.

Other experience

Before joining martin searle solicitors I trained with DMH Stallard LLP in the firm’s Brighton, Gatwick and London offices, before working as an employment law solicitor with Knight-Webb Solicitors in London.

For a number of years I was a weekly volunteer at Mencap group sessions and a monthly volunteer for Contact the Elderly.

I am an active member of the charities Amicus and Reprieve. I have been involved in running training sessions for both of these organisations since 2007 covering working with prisoners facing the death penalty. In 2007 and 2010 I volunteered for a number of months in Louisiana, through  Amicus and Reprieve . This involved working on death row appeals cases, investigating mitigating circumstances and helping death row prisoners with wide-ranging welfare issues.

I have a life too

I enjoy swimming, the arts and travelling, most recently in 2009 when I visited a number of African countries.

Stuart Markless

Employment Law Caseworker
email Stuart Markless

I advise employee and employer clients on contentious work-based issues as well as representing claimants and respondents in the Employment Tribunal. I also help employers with non-contentious issues such as contracts and policies. Areas of expertise

I have particular expertise in:

• Disability discrimination claims
• Unfair dismissal claims
• Drafting Employment Tribunal claims and advocacy
• Defending Employment Tribunal claims
• Collective consultations
• Negotiating settlements

My clients

My clients range from national multi-site employers to small companies with a few workers, and individual employees. I also act for two well-known national legal expense insurers carrying out litigation for employers and employees.

Some recent highlights

• Successfully defending an unfair dismissal claim for a local council – the claim was withdrawn.
• Securing a payout of £40k for a disability discrimination and unfair dismissal claim. Negotiating a settlement for a transsexual employee dismissed after three months employment.
• Minimising an employer’s litigation and financial risk after it made redundancies without following the correct procedures – after negotiations the claims were withdraw in return for one month’s loss of earnings.

Qualifications and memberships

I have a BA Hons in Politics from the University of York and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Information Science from City University.

Other experience

I have more than 10 years’ experience as a shop steward in a number of jobs and 15 years’ providing employment law advice at law centres and Citizen’s Advice Bureaux. Before joining martin searle solicitors in June 2008 I worked at Pattinson and Brewer, a firm of solicitors specialising in trade union work.

I currently provide free legal training to local Citizen’s Advice Bureau caseworkers and regularly write articles for the local press.

I have a life too

I enjoy cycling although this is now tinged with regret at having to replace my much loved 20-year-old Dawes Galaxy. I also enjoy table tennis and football, the latter more as a spectator these days.

Cate Searle

Finance Director and Practice Manager
email Cate Searle

Based primarily in our Brighton office, I lead the community care and housing team. I am the director responsible for practice management and financial and regulatory matters. I also manage the firm’s community engagement strategy. As one of a very small number of solicitors specialising in NHS continuing healthcare law, I have built an expanding practice in this area which has given our firm a nationwide profile far and above its relative size. I also provide expert opinion on community care law issues for the specialist press, speak as a guest lecturer and train other legal professionals. In 2011 I was asked by the Law Commission to give my views as part of the consultation on proposals for inclusion in the Adult Health & Social Care Bill.

Areas of expertise

I have particular expertise in:

• NHS Continuing Healthcare
• Planning and paying for care
• Funding disputes with Social Services (including financial assessments and deprivation of capital)
• Mental capacity law – including Lasting Powers of Attorney, best interest decisions and deputy applications
• Landlord and tenant disputes

My clients

A lot of my work is for elderly clients. I may be instructed by the person receiving care or who wants to plan ahead, or by their family members. I also help other solicitors, charities and voluntary organisations with complicated casework, particularly NHS Continuing Healthcare funding appeals. In addition, I work with a wide range of clients of all ages, many of whom have disabilities or caring responsibilities. I also work with a number of private sector tenants and small landlords.

Some recent highlights

• Securing a £130,000 award for a client whose mother had wrongly been required to fund her own nursing home care. See care funding case studies.
• Lecturing on community care law issues for CLT and giving my opinion in Elderly Client Adviser magazine on how the coalition government’s Budget will affect the UK’s elderly.
• Achieving NHS continuing healthcare funding awards through appeals and reviews for large numbers of clients who have been turned down.
• Being shortlisted for our pioneering community engagement strategy in the Sussex Business Awards and for two years in a row in the Law Society Excellence Awards.
• Being shortlisted for the Association of Women Solicitors’ Solicitor of the Year Managing a Small Practice award in 2010.

Qualifications and memberships

I have a degree in developmental psychology from the University of Sussex. While managing a local mental health service, I studied part-time for the law conversion course at the University of Brighton where I met my co-director Fiona Martin. I completed the solicitors’ law finals course at Leeds Metropolitan University. I am currently studying towards membership of Solicitors for the Elderly.

Other experience

Having worked for several years in health and social services before training as a solicitor, I have skills and experience that directly benefit my NHS continuing healthcare clients. This is reflected in the outcomes I achieve for them.

In addition, having worked in the voluntary sector as an advisor before qualifying as a solicitor, I understand the challenges voluntary sector organisations face. This really helps focus the firm’s community engagement work.

I have a life too

I enjoy long cycle rides in the countryside with friends and family, usually followed by a hearty pub lunch. Otherwise I relax by reading or listening to music. I love to travel and am fortunate to have a number of friends and relatives living abroad to provide an interesting range of holiday destinations. I enjoy debating something or nothing with friends over a good meal.

Colin McCloskey

Consultant Solicitor

I joined martin searle solicitors in 2011. I am based in the Brighton office and have a senior role in the department, having worked in the areas of housing law, community care law and mental health for more than 20 years.

Areas of expertise

I have particular expertise in:

• Community care assessments and financial assessments
• Provision of community care services
• Judicial review proceedings in the High Court to compel local authorities to comply with community care duties
• Mental health issues and mental capacity
• NHS Continuing Healthcare
• County Court housing litigation
• Landlord and tenant disputes

My clients

Much of my work is for elderly clients. I can be instructed by the person receiving care or or by family members. Sometimes I work for clients who are simply planning ahead with regards to care arrangements or care funding. I also help other solicitors, charities and voluntary organisations with complex casework, particularly NHS Continuing Healthcare funding appeals. In addition, I work with a wide range of clients of all ages, many of whom have disabilities or caring responsibilities. I also work with a number of private sector tenants and small landlords.

Some recent highlights

• Recent appointment as Deputy District Judge hearing civil cases in the County Court.
• Providing training courses on housing issues for the Legal Action Group, a national welfare law organization.
• Providing training for AdviceUK (London) on community care and support issues.
• Co-author of Migrants’ Support Handbook issued by the Child Poverty Action Group.
• Working with the Asylum Support Appeals Project and securing support for destitute asylum seekers – including training solicitors in London city firms to provide pro bono advice in this area.

Qualifications and memberships

Having obtained a law degree in Southampton I qualified as a solicitor in 1980. Subsequently I built up expertise in civil litigation in housing and community care issues.

From 2008 to 2010 I worked with the charity Asylum Support Appeals Project in Croydon representing asylum seekers in tribunal appeals when they had been refused support. At the charity we also advised and trained community groups nationally in asylum support and community care law.

I am a Deputy District Judge (Civil) and a member of Solicitors for the Elderly.

I have a life too

I enjoy walking in the UK and abroad. I also like to sail and I am a paragliding pilot. I speak French, Italian and German and am an avid reader. I enjoy most forms of music, play the piano and sing in two choirs.

Nicola Grover

Paralegal
email Nicola Grover

I help Cate Searle with all aspects of community care law, particularly where a client has a case for NHS continuing healthcare funding or Social Services support. I aid the client’s case by analysing care plans, health needs assessments and medical reports, drafting written appeal representations and attending assessment meetings. I also help clients understand the financial contributions they will have to make if they, or a relative, go into nursing or residential care. Areas of expertise

I have particular expertise in:

• NHS continuing healthcare funding and funded nursing care
• Social Services disputes over care plans, care provision and charging for care
• Charging for care generally
• Elderly client care
• Mental Capacity law

My clients

Clients in the community care department come from all walks of life and range from the young to the elderly. We represent service users, carers and family members. Clients are often people who have been wrongly assessed by the NHS or Social Services on health or financial grounds.

Qualifications and training:

I have trained with the Citizens Advice Bureau as a generalist adviser and I am qualified in elderly care. I am training to be a legal executive and I am an affiliate member of the Institute of Legal Executives.

Other experience

I started working with martin searle solicitors in 2007 on a part-time basis as a volunteer legal researcher and caseworker, while also working in the House of Commons as a parliamentary researcher. Before that I was a care worker at a retirement home and helped with care in the community. This experience greatly benefits my work.

I have a life too

I am an active campaigner for the things I believe in such as defending local greenfield sites that are home to protected species and habitat. My other interests include visiting places of historic interest, such as castles, museums and battlefields. I am a keen walker, with a love of the countryside and the mountains of north Wales and the highlands of Scotland. I enjoy camping and medieval festivals, as well as music festivals and concerts. I am also a singer and songwriter.