Durham City’s leading law firm, Swinburne Maddison LLP (Swinburne Maddison), has expanded its service portfolio with the launch of smartHR, which offers bespoke legal advice and guidance to businesses through a monthly retainer.
SmartHR provides three carefully curated packages for businesses suitable for larger companies with an existing HR team or smaller firms without a designated HR function. Firms can opt for the package that best suits their needs, depending on the level of support required.
The retainer service, which has been under consideration for some time, has been launched in response to the increased demand for employment law and HR advice which the law firm has recently experienced.
Before finalising the details of smartHR, Swinburne Maddison spoke to various clients already using this kind of service from other providers and listened to their feedback. Clients often spoke with a different adviser each time and, in most cases, they were not lawyers, giving limited employment law advice.
Swinburne Maddison’s managing partner and head of dispute resolution and employment law, Jonathan Moreland, acknowledges that this feedback helped to shape smartHR. He said:
“It is important to recognise that one size does not fit all. The needs of a company with an internal HR resource will differ to those without, therefore it was crucial that our packages have inbuilt flexibility. SmartHR offers three levels of support – Premium, Plus and Essentials – to complement existing company structures.
“Phoebe Gogarty, who joined the Swinburne Maddison employment team last year, has been instrumental in the planning and development of smartHR after significant experience of servicing and launching this type of retainer-led support in previous roles.
“As a result, smartHR clients are assigned one of five dedicated employment lawyers who will be their main point of contact throughout their retainer with support and back up from the other members of our employment team. The service can be accessed online, by email or telephone and for more detailed discussions on complex matters, in-person meetings or video conferencing will be used. There is no lengthy contract.”
The service aims to bolster existing HR teams or provide reliable and quick advice if there is no existing HR function and with one point of contact, Swinburne Maddison’s employment lawyers can quickly get to know a business and understand its requirements.
Advice on a wide range of employment matters is available including contracts and handbook policies, grievance and disciplinary procedures, family-friendly rights, redundancies, restructures, employment disputes and much more.
Jonathan continued: “It is not only about giving our clients peace of mind but also the flexibility for businesses to spread the costs, so they are not blown off course by an unexpected matter.
“We want to solve problems for our clients who may feel derailed when new employment laws are introduced. We have many clients who have used our employment law services consistently for several years and are now keen to formalise this and budget their HR/employment related costs, and we are delighted to have already onboarded several of these.”
In response to the growing demand for employment law services, Swinburne Maddison is looking for an employment lawyer to join the team on a full time or part time basis.
Together with managing partner, Jonathan Moreland, managing associate, Sharney Randhawa, associate solicitor Phoebe Gogarty, and solicitor Anna Harbinson, the new recruit will be named as one of smartHR’s five named legal advisers.
Jonathan added: “Following the launch of smartHR, it is an exciting time to join the Swinburne Maddison employment team. We are looking for a lawyer who has over two years PQE and experience in advising clients on a variety of employment issues across non-contentious matters and contentious Tribunal instructions.
“The employment law landscape is ever-changing and we anticipate further increased demand for our services following the general election, so we are looking to build on our already strong team.”
For further information on smartHR and to receive a free tailored quote based on your business’ needs, please visit swinburnemaddison.co.uk/smartHR or call our team on 0191 384 2441.
If you are interested in applying for the employment lawyer position at Swinburne Maddison, please visit the careers page on the Swinburne Maddison website, swinburnemaddison.co.uk/careers.
