What can I do for you?
I have specialised in employment law for over 29 years and provide strategic and practical employment law advice and guidance primarily to businesses in the private sector but also to the public sector.
I have acted for a very wide range of clients over the years – from banks, building societies, insurers, international airlines, publishers and manufacturers to small start-up companies. I provide clients with tailored solutions to the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment issues.
Most recently, my work has included drafting contractual documentation, discrimination and equality issues, large scale reorganisations and redundancies, consultation issues and the employment aspects of corporate transactions.
I have had the benefit of working on the other side of the fence for a couple of years as an in-house lawyer for a large global multimedia group and of working in London for many years before moving to Norfolk. I feel that working as an in-house lawyer has given me a unique insight into the legal requirements of clients.
Supporting my clients’ objectives
The great advantage of being an employment lawyer with Mills & Reeve is that we are big enough to offer businesses a comprehensive service involving our colleagues who specialise in employment related areas such as corporate, tax, insolvency, pensions, and intellectual property while being small enough to care and be accessible and responsive.
I feel that my many years of experience can add real value to any employment issue and I particularly enjoy becoming an integral part of my clients’ management or HR teams, learning about what is important to their businesses and advising on management strategies. I am able to come up with solutions for our clients that are not only cost effective but, equally as important, help to maintain staff morale.
I enjoy providing proactive advice to help our clients through the legal minefield that is employment law, and to anticipate and implement change before it impacts on their businesses.
My role is also to lead my team to deliver advice that is on time, on budget and user friendly.
What do others say?
Comments from the legal directories, Chambers UK and Legal 500 about our employment team include the following:
“Clients have nothing but good things to say about this reputable outfit: ‘They don’t talk down to you and they make you feel like it’s a real partnership between you and them’.”
"Gillie Scoular’s Norwich team is ‘extremely professional, proactive and a pleasure to work with‘."
I have also been personally listed in Chambers UK as a leading employment lawyer for many years:
“There is no substitute for experience and the ‘superbly gifted’ Gillie Scoular boasts more than 25 years of it”
“Local, national and international clients praise her ‘calm, thoughtful approach’.”
What else should you know?
I am a member of the Employment Lawyers Association, which is helpful for keeping my clients up to speed with developments in the employment sector.
We run a training and information forum called the HR Hub, specifically for HR professionals in the private and education sectors, which meets quarterly over breakfast at our Norwich office. These sessions provide a mini master class on one practical area of employment law as well as an update on employment law and employment practices over the preceding three months, focusing on those areas most relevant to HR professionals. The HR Hub has proved extremely popular and provides an excellent opportunity to meet other HR professionals on an informal basis. If you are interested in this or any of our other events, see the “Events and seminars” information on the right of this page.