WESTMINSTER & HOLBORN EVENTS
Cluj Bar Association hosts (virtual) exchange with WHLS I nstead of the Society’s long-awaited visit to Cluj, Romania, a virtual meeting was held to celebrate friendship between the two law societies. Among those attending from London were Carolina Marín Pedreño, Suzanne Eames, Jeffrey Forrest, William McKay, Coral Hill and Sara Chandler. Members of the Cluj Bar, including Calin Luga, Dan Sebastian Charles and Oana Muratu addressed the meeting. We talked about the structure and role of our two respective organisations, understanding the representative and regulatory
roles. We discussed the impact of COVID-19 on our members and the changes this has brought on legal practice in the two jurisdictions. We agreed that next year when the pandemic is (hopefully) over we will re-organise the visit to Cluj for WHLS members. Details of this will be made available at the earliest opportunity. ■
Prof Sara Chandler QC (Hon)
Co-Chair, International Committee Westminster & Holborn Law Society
Redundancy in 2020 O
n Friday 7 August, Westminster & Holborn Law Society hosted a virtual employment law event focusing on the unfortunately very current topic of redundancy. We heard from an excellent panel consisting of Maurice O’Carroll and Alex Adamou, of 33 Bedford Row’s employment law team and Tom McLaughlin of specialist employment law firm BDBF. The event provided our employment lawyers with an update on redundancy generally and provided additional considerations for the wave of redundancy procedures being initiated as a result of the economic downturn, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
and what happens if an employee does not accept an offer; ■ considerations for enhanced redundancy payments; ■ the timeline of essential steps legally required during a redundancy procedure; and ■ the documents needed during a redundancy exercise.
Highlights of the talks given by our expert panel included:
If there are any events you would like to see, or if you are interested in joining our committee, please do get in touch with me. You can find me on LinkedIn or Twitter @NicolaRubbert. ■
■ an overview of the principles of redundancy; ■ the latest relevant cases such as Gwynedd Council v Barratt UKEAT; ■ the recent advice provided by ACAS on redundancy on 5 August; ■ alternative offers of employment, including the duty on employers to see if there is suitable alternative employment 8 | CENTRAL LONDON LAWYER
The formal presentation was followed by an engaging Q&A session. We are missing our in-person events but are so grateful to our speakers for giving us their time and energy to provide us with the next best thing in order to keep our knowledge up to date.
Nicola Rubbert
Chair, Education & Training Committee Westminster & Holborn Law Society
