Nick Hobden
Partner/Head of Department
Specialisms and expertise
Nick heads up the Employment Law Department and has over 22 years experience in providing employment law advice for employers and employees in all aspects of employment law with particular expertise in conducting Employment Tribunal claims and High Court claims (the latter including restrictive covenant injunction action, breach of contract and unfair prejudice of minority shareholder claims). He takes a robust approach to Employment disputes handling, levering cases for the best possible outcome for clients even when the odds are against them.
Nick specialism’s includes local government pension scheme issues (including advising on admission agreement for TUPE transfer employers as admitted bodies, advising clients on complex and difficult business restructuring exercises and issues relating to varying terms and conditions of employment including pay and conditions and managed exits of directors and shareholders or senior management arising from board room disputes. He also advises senior executives on exit strategy including boardroom and shareholder disputes.
He is listed in leading independent guide to UK law firms, Chambers UK 2010, 2011 and 2012 and Legal 500 editions as a Leader in his Field. He is also recognised in UK Legal Experts 2011 in the field of employment law.
Nick regularly provides employment law commentary, which is published in the HR press including Personnel Today, and wrote the Employment Law chapter in the Law Society's The Elderly Client Handbook 2010 edition. He is contributing to the employment law sections to the Older Client Law Service.
Examples of some of Nick’s work over the past 12 months include:
- Dismissal of claims for constructive unfair dismissal and disability discrimination at pre-hearing review on time limit point – avoiding an exposure of £14,000 compensation.
- Settlement of a claim for unfair dismissal for just 7% of the £22,000 of the amount claimed.
- Settlement of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination claims for £14,000 for just £3,000.
- Supporting a third sector organisation in conducting collective and individual consultation on changes to terms and conditions of employment including pay and hours for over 300 employees and managing away the risk of claims.
- Using likelihood of dismissal (Polkey type) arguments to lever down to only £7,000 a compensation award in a contested redundancy case where the redundant employee in Employment Tribunal proceedings claimed £50,000.
Reported cases
Brownlow v G H Marshall Limited [2000] 2 B.C.L.C. 655 – unfairly prejudicial conduct of a minority shareholder
Profile
Nick qualified as a lawyer in 1989. He joined Thomson Snell & Passmore in 2002 as a Partner after moving from the Thames Valley where he was with, national law firm, Shoosmiths, leading a team of seven employment lawyers in the southern regional offices of Reading and Fareham.