Contact Details/Services offered/Twitterview
I’m Michael Scutt . I am a Partner in the City law firm Dale Langley & Co. For more about me scroll down to my Twitterview about midway down this page. For more about Dale Langley & Co, read on.
We are based at
60 Lombard Street
London
EC3V 9EA
(tel) 0207 464 8433
(fax) 0207 464 8659
You can email me at michaelscutt@dalelangley.co.uk
We also have an office at 29th Floor, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5LY
We are a specialist employment law practice and act predominantly for employees and small medium enterprises (SMEs). We can provide advice on all aspects of employment law and frequently represent employees in the Employment Tribunals and High/County Courts. We can advise employees and employers on the following areas (this isn’t an exhaustive list);
- Compromise Agreements
- Contracts of Employment (drafting, advising generally on contractual provisions and restrictive
covenants in particular)
- Unfair dismissal
- Constructive Dismissal
- Breach of Contract/Wrongful dismissal
- TUPE transfers
- Sex/Race/Age/Disability/Religious Belief/Sexual Orientation Discrimination
- Whistleblowing
- Health & Safety issues
- Occupational Illness (e.g. stress at work/RSI claims)
- Injunctions (e.g. breach of confidentiality, unauthorised removal/copying of database information)
- Dispute Resolution (inc. Mediation) and most areas of civil litigation
TWITTERVIEW
As mentioned on the main page, I took part in a Twitterview with Lance Godard of 22Tweets. If you want to know more about what the firm does and how we do it, have a read of it below;
@michaelscutt
November 5th, 2009
Employment law solicitor in the City of London
Partner, Dale Langley & Co
Author of Jobsworth, the employment law blog
Today we’re tweeting with solicitor and blawger @michaelscutt, who has a niche employment law practice in the City of London
- @michaelscutt thank you for joining us today on Twitter. Tell us: who is @michaelscutt?
I am Father, husband, cat-owner, blogger, solicitor, writer, Arsenal fan, gadget fan, cyclist, cook – in that order
- - Tell us about your law practice.
We are a 2 ptnr niche full-service employment law practice. We give practical, cost-effective, jargon-free legal advice
- - What type of clients do you represent?
employees of all levels of seniority mainly in banking, finance, legal and IT sectors but also SMEs and owner managed bizs
- - What is the single most important legal issue affecting those clients?
Employees: 2 equal: redundancy and will I get a bonus? Employers: how to reduce costs without making redundancies
- - What do you tell every new client before you start working for them?
How much I charge, what my time estimate is, ask what THEIR ideal solution to their problem is and what I can do to help
- - Tell us about one of the more significant client representations you’ve had.
An equal pay and bullying/harassment case involving senior female banker. We got a good settlement before trial
- - Congrats to you and your client. Why do your clients hire you?
Thx. Virtually all work gets referred to us by recommendation from previous clients, other lawyers, HR, contacts etc
- - Nice recognition of your work! What’s the most active area of your practice at the current time? Is that typical?
Thx. Advising on severance agreements, grievance /disciplinary procedures, employment contracts, restrictive covenants. Yes
- - How has the economic crisis “changed the game” with respect to employment law? Has it changed for good?
Clients are much more cost conscious and put fee estimates before any other qualities of their lawyer. Yes, it’s the future
- - Interesting. How do you market your practice?
word of mouth referrals (see above) networking in “real” world, journal articles, website, my blog, Linked In, Facebook
- - How do you describe what you do to people you meet at networking events?
I say I’m an employment lawyer who can solve all their problems! Re: employment law of course! mainly I just try to listen
- - You blog at Jobsworth (http://bit.ly/3mBjXo). What are your goals for the blog? Are you meeting them?
Yes: it raises my profile and I’ve made some good contacts through it. No: conversion rate of enquiries 2 clients needs 2 improve
- - Besides Twitter and your blog, what Web 2.0 tools do you regularly use to market your practice?
I use our recently redesigned website http://bit.ly/u3R3w also Linked In and, sometimes, Facebook. Wikipedia is next.
- - Intrigued re Wiki… What specific impact on referrals / client engagements have you realized from Web 2.0 activities?
direct client engagement hard to say. Other contacts: great. I now lecture on Tesco law because of a referral via my blog
- - How much time do you spend each day developing / enhancing your brand?
Probably 1 – 2 hours per day average, mostly in the evenings and on train. Addict! My wife says she is an internet widow
- - And now you’re online at 9pm for this…. What is the most significant issue currently facing the legal profession?
No worries. Kids have finally gone to bed! Undoubtedly the introduction of full legal deregulation …
via external ownership of law firms in 2011 – so called Tesco Law. Many lawyers here only just waking up to it
- - What will the legal landscape look like in 10 years?
V few generalist and fewer mid-size law firms, more small specialised law firms, few high st giants, more IT / virtual lwyrs
- - What would you do if you weren’t a lawyer?
My wife says I’d be happy! Probably be in IT – as a social media consultant. At school I wanted to be a forester
- - How do you want to be remembered?
I think I’d just like to be remembered
- - What do you do when you’re not working?
Look after and play with my 2 small kids, cook, write, go cycling/running, occasionally go out with my wife – in that order
- - What advice can you pass along to lawyers currently under- or unemployed due to the economic crisis?
Don’t despair, be flexible, be imaginative, use social media to make contacts. Network!
- - And our final question for you: what advice do you have for people going to law school today?
2 things; (1) good luck and (2) Be humble; lawyers don’t have a god-given right to a living
Valuable advice. Thank you very much for tweeting with me today; I enjoyed learning about you and your practice.
I’ve really enjoyed it. Thank you very much for having me on your Twitterview.
DEAR SIR.
I AM CONCERNED THAT I MAY BE ON THE NSDR[DUE TO THE ACTIONS OF A PREVIOUS EMPLOYER].
HOW DO I FIND OUT
THANKS
Hi, sorry for the delay in replying. I think you should make a “subject access request” under the Data Protection Act 1998 to both your ex-employer and to the NSDR – their address will be on the web. Each request will cost you £10. There’s more information on the Information Commissioner’s website.
I’d be interested to know how you get on.
Dear sir,
I recently handed in my notice to my employer with a request to be paid the holiday pay which I had acrued (I had been working for just over 5 months part time). Due to a misunderstanding over my working hours I failed to turn up to a subsequent shift that I was expected for (but believed i had been given off), and I believe that I have been fired because of it even though it is the first time it has happened since i started working there (my employer will not answer my calls or messages asking for clarification on this but has told me that she has taken me off of the work rota). Am i still entitled to the holiday pay which I have accrued if it turns out that I have been fired?
I would be very greatful for any advice you could give me on this matter,
Many thanks,
Alon
Thanks for the comment. I’d need to know more about the situation but you may well be entitled to your holiday pay accrued up to the date of dismissal (but not afterwards) and the employer may be in breach of contract if they don’t pay that.
hi, i was recentley fired from my company for gross misconduct (selling an employee meal to a non employee) i was told i would recieve my holiday pay and it has been six weeks and still haven’t recieved it, I had accrued £382 holiday and I believe i should be entitled to it as I worked for it.
Also I would like to ask about my other problem, i started working in a pub 5 weeks ago and have not yet been paid, they owe me about £600 now and they keep staying you’ll get paid this friday and it not going in and then saying oh well it will go in next week then. Is there any thing I can do to make sure i get my money?
x
Thanks for the reply. I can’t advise you properly on what you’ve written and I’d need to know more about both situations but it looks like you MAY have claims for breach of contract in both cases.
In respect of your dismissal, how long had you worked there? If more than 12 months continuously then you might be able to claim unfair dismissal if you don’t accept the action takien as fair. You should be paid for salary and holiday pay up to the termination date.
With the pub job, you need to consider whether you still want to carry on working if you’re not being paid. That is a breach of contract and you could consider claiming constructive dismissal and leaving. You could then issue proceedings for breach of contract at an Employment Tribunal.
I’d be happy to advise you in more detail or you could get advice from a CAB or local solicitor; many will do free initial interviews. Get some advice before taking action.
Good luck
Sir,
I am emailing on behalf of a friend who lives in a rural area of North Essex and the only way he can commute to London is by rail. There’s is a threat of industrial action over 8 days in the coming month and, if it goes ahead, the nearest rail station with a service will be 40 miles away. Not having a car, making the journey will not be possible.
His employer has said that it is his responsibility to get to work and that if he does not make it into the office pay deducted and he’ll face possible disciplinary action. Even though he has offered to work from home.
Can a company deduct pay if an employee has made all reasonable attempts to get to work?
Can an employee claim reasonable expenses (i.e. hire car costs/taxi fares)?
Finally, it is suspected that certain high-level managers will be allowed to work from home unlike the rest of the staff. Could this be deemed as unreasonable behaviour by the employer?
Thanks for the enquiry. There are lots of issues here. Strictly speaking an employer deosn’t have to pay when there has been an unauthorised absence but that would seem harsh in the circumstances you describe. I think your friend needs to seek legal advice and I’d be happy to assist further if he wants to contact me at michaelscutt@dalelangley.co.uk or on 0207 464 8433
Regards
Hi,
in May this year our employer asked all staff to take a 10% paycut and increase our work load. Some members of staff were also finished. We were told these measures had to be taken to ’save’ the company due to the ecomomic crisis. Everyone had to agree which they did. Incidentally we have not been asked to sign any new contract.
We have just found out they are now re-employing a member of staff they finished. Is this legal or should they be returning our working conditions and pay back to what they were before re-employing someone? Please could you advise
Thanks
What consultation process did they follow? When you say employees were finished do you mean made redundant?
Please call me on 0207 464 8433 at my firm Dale Langley & Co and I will be happy to advise you on this.
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