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Kate Hodgkiss

Partner
Head of Employment, Scotland
Responsive, very pragmatic and helpful. Goes the extra mile to assist.
Head of employee relations and policy
About

Kate Hodgkiss has more than 20 years’ experience advising organisations of all shapes and sizes to address and resolve employment issues and to embrace the constant changes and developments facing employers.

Kate’s broad experience enables her to quickly understand the importance of reaching a solution which meets her clients’ individual needs and to present options to achieve this. Having advised employers in both the public and private sectors, she has the ability to offer pragmatic advice which is uniquely tailored to the organisation’s specific requirements and which is aligned to their values and position. She’s experienced in providing advice on all stages of the employment life-cycle, but has particular experience in providing strategic advice on re-organisations and restructures, complex discrimination and whistle-blowing claims, and senior terminations.

She lead the defence of a party at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in a leading case on the calculation of holiday pay, the implications of which were so important that the UK Government sought to intervene.

Kate is a regular and engaging speaker on a variety of employment law topics and contributor to articles and publications on issues affecting global companies and local employers alike.

Areas of FocusInsuranceEmployment
Professional QualificationsSolicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales

EXPERIENCE

  • Successfully obtained injunctive relief in the High Court for clients in both the insurance and testing sectors where faced with former employees seeking to establish competing businesses in breach of their contractual obligations and removing confidential information for this purpose. The final resolution obtained for one of these claims included securing undertakings for a sustained period far exceeding those experienced by senior counsel.
Education
  • Lancaster University, Law LLB (Hons)
  • Nottingham Law School

Publications

Kate is a regular speaker at both external seminars and internal briefings for clients. She has spoken and written on a wide range of subjects relating to the employment relationship. These include all aspects of maternity and family friendly provision; managing difficult employees; discrimination provisions; redundancy and the employment issues connected with restructuring of organisations.

Kate is the former editor of the teams 'Be Aware' publication which is a regular bulletin to brief clients on important developments within the workplace and in employment law.

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