Founders, Senior Executives and Directors

We advise founders, senior executives, directors, board committees, investor nominees and proxies from a variety of sectors, including financial services, professional services, marketing services, private equity, hospitality, academia, sport and the arts.

Our advice covers all aspects of employment and incentive arrangements, including significant shareholdings held under shareholder or investment agreements.

For directors, we advise on statutory duties and issues or conflicts between board members.

Our advice ranges from negotiating and drafting service agreements and incentive arrangements to bringing or defending claims when matters become litigious.

Our work demands technical expertise, business acumen and an appreciation of the pressures on leaders. Legal issues applicable to directors and shareholders frequently matter more than pure employment law issues, especially when complex share and incentive arrangements are involved. We have deep experience advising on high-value, complex and sensitive board issues. This includes whistleblowing, injunctions, boardroom coups, rogue leadership, culture risk, executive stress, remuneration and investigations.

We advise on a wide range of issues from termination provisions, garden leave, confidentiality, misconduct investigations, fiduciary duties, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) to Remuneration Code issues. We also advise on bonus and remuneration structures, long-term incentive plans (LTIPs), short-term incentive plans (STIPs), share options, restricted stock units (RSUs),  management incentive plans (MIPs), ‘sweet’ equity and ‘good/bad leaver’ provisions.

We support senior executives, their teams, new employers and headhunters (where appropriate) on restrictive covenant risks and disputes arising from moves to competing businesses. We also work in conjunction with other specialists within the firm on issues such as employee benefits and incentives and tax and private wealth protection to provide comprehensive advice from all angles.