Employment lawyer??

[Crewing's Slave]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good uk based employment lawyer / law firm, that knows the intricacies of a typical pilot contract...

Many thanks,

CS

[fivegreenlight]

I need one too:sad:

[Navigator33]

Don´t we all :rolleyes::ugh:

[Say again s l o w l y]

I certainly know of a very good employment Law firm. PM me for details.

Are you members of BALPA or another Union, they should be able to help.

Specifics of your issues would be useful, though you certainly don't need to identify yourselves.

[AJMcC]

If you go to the Law Society's website, and 'Find a Solicitor',

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/findasolicitor.law

you can select to search by area of practice, and by region. Select 'Employment law' and that gives a list of firms that specialise in that field. You could also try 'Aviation law' but I don't know how relevant that would be.

Even if it doesn't help you out much, I'm sure anyone you contacted would be able to point you in the right direction.
Hope that helps!

[fmgc]

I would strongly recommend BALPA's lawyers if you are a member.

[mightymouse111]

Any good employment lawyer should be able to assist. Its the same laws that apply to all industries!!

[kotakota]

PM me for the name of an excellent Lawyer who was once an airline pilot and has checked the odd contract for me.
It is true that any employment lawyer can help - the laws apply to all. It is advisable though to check a contract thoroughly before applying ink to it.

[Cold Soak]

I wouldn't ask BALPA for employment law advice if they were the last firm on Earth. BALPA are a business and the firm of solicitors they employ to sort their member's legal matters out out aren't even second rate. BALPA save an awful lot of money by not using a quality law firm in the Legal 500. I won't go into detail about how terrible my experience was with BALPA's so called legal support but if you want an important employment law matter sorting out, then I suggest you forget BALPA and fork out for yourself. BALPA wouldn't back my cause so I pursued it myself. I asked BALPA to help with legal fees and they wouldn't. I won my case and won a massive amount in damages and still BALPA wouldn't help me with my legal fees. I used a firm in the top ten Legal 500 and it was extremely good in Employment law matters. Not cheap, but hey, you get what you pay for right? (Or not as in the case with BALPA where 12 years of membership was worth zip!)

[Kelly Hopper]

Not so Mr Fogg. There are many intricies to aviation that simply does not exist in other professions so use a lawyer who knows it. For example: Our flight and duty times are heavily regulated down to the last minute. A pastry chef's isn't!

[Say again s l o w l y]

If you can find a Lawyer who does specialise in a certain area, then that is a great thing, especially if they have experience in an industry like aviation.

Lawyers are expensive. £150 isn't bad, you can sometimes be looking at £300/hr for a really top class person, but it is rare when the extra money isn't worth it. If you can get someone like Tudor Owen (FlyingLawyer on here) then you have a better chance than with someone who is a good "general" brief. (He's a Barrister not a solicitor, so you wouldn't go to him for inital advice.)

Like any industry there are sharks out there, but there are also some really good people out there.

One thing to mention, is that on most people's household insurance there is legal cover included, so if you do decide to go to down the legal route, you can get them to pay. Worth thinking about, as BALPA can leave something to be desired............

The cover is normally with an insurance company called DAS and they will try and push you down a route that suits them. i.e if you haven't got a good chance of winning, then they'll try and convince you to drop it or settle.

Anything less than a 70% chance of winning and they get nervous. (if memory serves correctly, but I may be wrong on an exact figure.)

They sometimes also force solicitors and briefs on you who you might not think much of. You can choose who you want, but expect to have to kick up a stink.

As if dealing with the underlying situation isn't stressful enough!