Chris Syder unlocks the key to his career secrets and talks to HRZone about the ins and outs of daily life as an employment law partner, including how he keeps abreast of latest legislation changes and the challenges clients present.
Career history
Chris Syder followed the traditional route into law undertaking the classic LLB honours degree before landing a training contract within a small law practice based in Cornwall.
Going back to his roots seemed a natural start to his career for Syder who was brought up in the county and being ‘thrown in at the deep-end’ at this small, high-street practice gave the trainee solicitor a good background in a mix of legal disciplines from criminal, family, conveyancing and commercial law.
The next step came about upon qualification when Syder moved to a larger practice based in Cornwall. Over the next three years he developed the employment law arm of the business but he felt restrained and knew that he would never achieve the level of contact with Human Resource professionals that he needed.
“The M5 finishes at Exeter and after that you’ve only got a few businesses heading as far south as Cornwall! I knew I had to move on,” admits Syder.
In July 2001, Syder true to his word made the move and joined Clarkslegal LLP a medium sized UK law firm comprising 16 partners and some 70 lawyers with offices in London and Reading.
“It’s been a bit of a rocket progression since then. I was promoted to Associate in 2003 and to Partner in August 2004. I am now a Partner within the Employment Practice,” Syder comments.
The routine
Syder advises on all aspects of employment law ranging from the contentious to the non-contentious, including general advice, conducting Employment Tribunal cases and appearing as an advocate.
Advising HR professionals plays a large part in the role. Generally, says Syder the number of Employment Tribunals you attend is not a mark of your success.
Indeed Syder says he tries to contain cases before they reach the tribunals.
Questions he asks his clients to consider before taking a case forward include:
- Why are you sure you are going to win?
- How much will it cost you in management time to see this claim through to a hearing?
Syder warns that it is very rare that a client will get their costs back if they succeed at tribunal. He has been involved in a number of cases most recently on race discrimination, redundancy processes, Transfers of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 (TUPE) related claims and unfair dismissal.
Other areas of client work include:
- Advising on removal of senior appointments including managing directors
- Presenting recommendations to companies on handling stress and/or depression related issues
- Consulting with clients on constructive unfair dismissal scenarios
- Offering counsel on the legal and practical implications of the TUPE regulations particularly in outsourcing situations
- General advice on disciplinary processes and complications arising
- Acting for employees, advising on disciplinary processes and termination packages
In addition to these roles Syder champions employmentbuddy.com’s online training tool for HR professionals which he pioneered.
Buddy’s ER is essentially a tool for all professionals interested in HR advice. A checklist service is available with a variety of procedures complemented with a library of training notes, which present the reasoning behind them.
Tracking legislation changes
“Clients take it as a given that you are up-to-date with latest employment law,” says Syder. A mark of a good employment lawyer he says is one that is always ahead of the changes.
With legislative changes now being implemented at two points in the year April and October it is essential that an employment lawyer is aware at a detailed level of the laws that are to be introduced and the impact they will have on the employment relationship.
Skills
There are a plethora of relevant competencies needed to succeed in employment law; Syder highlights his top three must have skills for the field in which he works:
- A clear ability to manage expectations
- Genuine enthusiasm for the subject
- Commitment to providing clients with clear and concise advice
Why employment law?
The key challenge says Syder is how to apply the process to a number of situations.
“It is quite unbelievable what things employees will do at work. Why do they come to work and download porn or harass colleagues for example?”
This says Syder is the reality of the types of situations employment lawyers are faced with.
The ongoing challenge he adds is self-development.
“When I first started I wanted to check that the advice I was giving was correct, now I know it’s right I need to check that it is relevant. My role is to ensure that the client continuously comes back to Clarkslegal for employment law advice.”
Why not employment law?
Time recording is the big turn off for Syder who has to account for his time in a time-log which details the make-up of the day.
For an industry based on time and fee billing, however, it is of course a necessary and essential element of the job.
How to get into employment law practice
Syder recommends all students secure a summer placement with a law practice. If this fails, he says work experience at the local Citizens Advice Bureaux is a good alternative.
“The key is to demonstrate why you are interested in a career in law,” he concludes.
One Response
HR Advance in Law Firms
What a great profile Chris!
But a question you may prefer to answer privately? I have a special interest in 'organisational development' and dynamics, and might suggest that, with regard to all Partnerships in particular, whether law firms, accountants, architects, consulting engineers, dentists, doctors, town planners or whatever, that they all may be, if you will allow some generalisation:
a) inevitably 'designed to fail' organisationally, in that they can so easily set Partner against Partner, and Department against Department, however unintentioannly, in terms of personal reward, corporate politics and broader strategic development and investment;
b) greatly inclined to reward and prize professional skills and fee-earning for obvious reasons, but rarely management skills in the way many 'companies' know they must;
c) tend to see 'management, leadership and people skills' as surely intuitive, not necessarily needing development (as opposed to professional CPD, let me stress!), and then often only to be exercised once becoming a Partner, with minimal prior training…
I am dealing with several such situations right now. In one, the Senior Partner and Practice Manager are about to retire. The remaining Partners agree they have had limited management training, are not sure how to reallocate all the management tasks that will be left and are really wary of appointing a 'leader' from their midst, while recognising any external appointments may be equally fraught! In another, a largely family Partnership, founder Dad wanted to retire but the children in the Practice never really got on and the non-family Partners always felt they would be sidelined…
Without talking specifics, of course, which must remain confidential, in an HR and OD context, specifically related to Partnerships, do you have any advice to offer from the inside?
There are of course a ton of useful professional tools to be used helpfuly in such circs, which I would be glad to share with you privately. But how have you experienced these difficulties, and what have you found to work best as both a lawyer and an HR expert?
Best wishes!
Jeremy