Driven to deliver client excellence, leader of our employment service in Cambridge
Joanna Scally
Partner
Jo is a leading lawyer in the employment field in Cambridge who has successfully built up our Cambridge employment team’s client-base. Jo thrives on winning new clients and excels at building strong client relationships. The depth of her understanding of the nature of clients’ organisations and what makes them tick increases the value of the advice she gives. Clients are impressed with how responsive, pragmatic and results-driven Jo is and appreciate her honesty and breadth of knowledge.
Jo successfully leads our Education Sector and has grown the Sector. She has a wealth of experience through acting for our client base of independent schools, academies and Cambridge Colleges.
Jo has converted 23 of the 31 Cambridge Colleges and is the go-to person for many Bursars and HR Managers as well as looking after the schools of a large Borough Council.
Jo specialises in all aspects of employment law but particularly enjoys the contentious Tribunal and court work, as well as large scale restructuring, redundancies and change programmes.
To quote Chambers 2022:
“Joanna Scally leads the education section-focused Greenwoods team and is recommended for her work for clients in that sector. She ably assists on contentious employment matters including claims relating to dismissal, discrimination and equal pay. She is also highly capable of advising clients on business-as-usual issues.”
Educated at Edinburgh University, Jo turned to law after an MA in Politics.
Jo now leads our employment service in Cambridge and has built up an impressive client base, including national and local companies and organisations both in and around Cambridge as well as wider afield.
Another string to her bow is the Education Sector which Jo leads. Clients like what they see and 23 of the Cambridge Colleges have now instructed us as well as many other educational establishments.
Jo has experience of both contentious and non-contentious matters and is a safe pair of hands. Jo enjoys getting her teeth into complicated non-contentious matters, such as large-scale business reorganisations, change programmes and redundancy situations.
Valuing client relationships highly, clients tell us they love the added value she brings through her interest in and knowledge of each and every organisation that she acts for.
Jo is a safe pair of hands and advises clients in a friendly, pragmatic way and is results-driven. She provides a quick service and is always available for her clients.
Some recent work examples include:
- Advising on restructures and changes of terms and conditions such as a proposal to reduce a normal working week of staff from 40 hours to 37.5 hours, affecting over 100 employees, which gave rise to equal pay issues, less favourable treatment because of part-time status, constructive unfair dismissal risks and pension considerations
- Defending a school against a Tribunal claim of a teacher who was dismissed during COVID-19 due to long-term sickness absence. The Teacher brought claims of unfair dismissal and disability discrimination as she had OCD and GAD which were accentuated by the pandemic.
- Advising on senior exits such as the exit of a staff member who was also a professional by-fellow, on grounds of performance where there were potential age discrimination issues and continuing fellowship rights advice covered the without prejudice process, settlement agreement and the taxation of the termination payments
- Advising on grievance and disciplinary issues such as a potential gross misconduct matter against a Porter in relation to allegations of theft and unauthorised access in restricted areas
- Advising on the employment status of various academic staff engaged by a College including fellows, bye-fellows, tutors, supervisors and officers
If you need any employment or education advice and you’re looking for a lawyer who will explain complex matters simply and get you the solution you are looking for, contact Jo.
Outside of life at the firm Jo enjoys travelling, catching up with friends and time with her family.