Simon Malcolm

Simon has specialised in employment law for more than 30 years. Although he has had experience during that time in most areas, there’s no such thing as ‘been there, done that, got the T-shirt’ because employment law is always developing and changing – which is what makes it exciting for him. Whatever matter he is advising on, the most important question to ask the client at the outset is ‘what do you want to achieve’? His approach is to use the law as a tool to deliver the solution the client wants by advising in a pragmatic and commercially focused way.

Since qualifying as a solicitor in 1986, Simon has spent the entirety of his career working in London. In the early 90s, he helped set up a London office for a firm based in the north-west. He spent 10 years developing that office and its successor practice before becoming a partner in the employment department of a mid-sized London firm in 2001, where he remained until joining Greenwoods at the beginning of 2015.

Simon advises both employers and employees. Although he spends the majority of his time working with employers, he thinks it’s really important to understand any case from both perspectives, which is why a large part of his workload is acting for employees.

He works with clients in sectors such as construction, leisure, travel, insurance, recruitment, and IT. Many of the businesses he works with are longstanding clients. Getting to know and understand the ‘ethos’ of a business is vitally important to being able to provide commercially focussed advice. As well as day-to-day advice to businesses, he particularly enjoys the more contentious side of employment law and has developed a focus on the area of restrictive covenants.

Examples of recent work

advising virtually all the employer clients on the furlough scheme in 2020
advising a construction business on a large scale redundancy/reorganisation programme
advising a train operating company on a number of Employment Tribunal claims in relation to allegations of discrimination and unfair dismissal
advising individual employees in relation to High Court litigation arising out of their move to a new employer
negotiating termination packages for senior employees in various sectors
advising a major professional services firm in relation to partner level grievances
advising a medical recruitment company about the theft of a candidate database

Outside of work, Simon enjoys playing squash, hill-walking, cycling, and skiing. He also carries the burden of supporting Charlton Athletic!