Chris Kisby

Expertise

Chris specialises in providing employment law advice and assistance in relation to all human resource matters and all employment-related aspects of corporate and commercial transactions (including IPOs, mergers, acquisitions, insolvencies, as well as commercial insourcing and outsourcing arrangements). He also specialises in Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal litigation and advocacy.

Chris acts for national and international clients across a diverse range of sectors. He has acted for professional sports organisations, sports governing bodies, transport and logistics businesses, media and publishing companies, food and drink manufacturers, global retail brands, security service providers, investment banks and other financial services organisations.

Chris has successfully represented a number of household name businesses in high-profile cases concerning allegations of whistle blowing, discrimination, bullying and harassment. He is regularly instructed to carry out independent inquiries regarding such issues and to assist organisations with implementing appropriate policies and procedures to tackle such matters in the workplace.

Chris provides employment law support in High Court proceedings involving the enforcement of post-termination restrictive covenants, breaches of confidentiality, bonus issues, as well as director and shareholder disputes.

Chris spent part of his career on secondment within the in-house legal team of British Telecommunications Plc and was retained as General Counsel to Team England at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. He is currently performing the role of Secretariat to the Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee for Commonwealth Games England and is an accredited UKAD anti-doping adviser.

How do you help clients?

Clients don’t want to know the law; they want a solution. With that in mind, I always seek to provide commercial, solution-driven advice and support. In order to achieve that, it is imperative that I fully understand and appreciate a client’s approach to legal issues and the management of risk. I make it my business to get to know my client’s business. Strong and trusted relationships are vitally important, and I strive to develop long-standing relationships with all of my clients and their key decision makers.

Experience

1. Successfully representing a household name listed business in response to a highly publicised Tribunal claim issued by an individual who had been engaged by the client for a number of years to provide professional services to the client’s customers on a self-employed basis via his own company. Following the Uber Supreme Court decision and other highly publicised cases regarding holiday pay and worker status issues, the Claimant alleged that he has been engaged by the business as a “worker” and therefore entitled to be compensated for historic worker entitlements that had accrued over a number of years throughout his engagement with the client, including holiday pay, pension contributions and deductions from wages. The matter was listed for a 6 day preliminary hearing to determine the Claimant’s employment status, where the matter was determined in the client’s favour.
2. Providing strategic advice to the in-house HR and legal teams of a household name global business with strong connections in media, music and sport; including the global roll-out of an anti-bribery and corruption training programme, drafting appropriate anti-bribery and corruption policies together with associated resource materials, and providing employment advice in relation to TUPE and the outsourcing of a sales function to an external organisation. 
3. Providing legal advice and support to Commonwealth Games England in preparation for the Bahamas Youth Games and the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and being seconded to Team England as General Counsel during the 2018 Gold Coast Games. 
4. Providing employment law support to the buyer of a household name business with undertakings across six legal jurisdictions; assisting with the cross border due diligence exercise, advising upon the warranties and indemnities in the Business Purchase Agreement, the application of TUPE, implementing redundancies, harmonising terms and conditions of employment post-completion, and assisting with all associated information disclosure and consultation processes.
5. Successfully defending a complex multi-discrimination and constructive dismissal claim issued against a large international organisation and six individually named respondents.