Steen & Co Employment Solicitors is a specialist firm of employment solicitors
Experienced employment law solicitors who act for both executives and companies.
We are a quality firm of solicitors dealing only with employment law. Our aim is to provide a quality alternative to the employment law departments of large firms of solicitors. Our clients range from multinational corporations and quoted companies to small and medium sized enterprises, non-governmental bodies and executives.
Unlike other 'city' type firms we aim to act for both executives and companies. In fact, some of our company clients use us because we have extracted their chairman or chief executive from his or her previous job. About 80% of new clients choose us as a result of a recommendation from an existing client, and we always appreciate such recommendations. We also receive new clients from accountants and management consultancies.
Simon Steen
Simon is a solicitor with over 36 years' employment law experience. He did his first employment tribunal claim in 1989 and has done nothing but employment law since. Simon originally qualified as a barrister on advice that that was the best route to becoming an ‘in-house lawyer’. He then became an ‘in-house lawyer’ for a company which, at the time, was in the FTSE 100 and he was there for about 5 years. Later, he decided that the commercial cut and thrust of private practice as a solicitor was more his style so he re-qualified as a solicitor. In 1995 Simon joined, and later became a partner, in a large regional firm where he was recognised in the Legal 500 as a noted lawyer "with a sound reputation in employment law". In 2000 he began working for a very large London firm of solicitors but set up Steen & Co Employment Solicitors in 2002 and has been growing his practice ever since.
Our Work
The aim of Steen & Co Employment Solicitors is to provide high quality practical advice from experienced and pragmatic solicitors. We like to think that we are a city law firm but without city rates. We have a wide variety of clients from FTSE companies to employees. Our specialist areas include boardroom disputes, negotiation of termination packages and settlement agreements and discrimination claims of all types but particularly pregnancy discrimination.5 Reasons to use Steen & Co
- The professional’s choice. We are the professional’s choice with extensive experience in acting for vice presidents and directors, senior managers, solicitors, in house lawyers, stockbrokers, chartered accountants and others. Other firms of solicitors and accountants use us both for their own work and recommend us to their clients.
- Client Recommendation. The vast majority of our clients come to us through recommendation. If you are reading this then the likelihood is that we will have been recommended to you by one of our clients. Even if not recommended by an existing client, rest assured that client satisfaction and our reputation are immensely important to us.
- Track Record. We have a proven track record of successfully acting against even the largest of employers. We also act for a number of major companies so can see both sides of the argument. Simon Steen spent five years working in a major company as its legal advisor so understands how Human Resource Departments work. See our About Us page for more information.
- Personal Service. When you call Steen & Co Employment Solicitors the lawyer who handles your case will be the person you speak to. This allows us to very quickly determine whether we will be able to help you or not and if we can help we will be able to advise you on time critical matters in the shortest possible time. You are never passed around from one lawyer to another nor will your work be delegated to a junior lawyer.
- Experience. We have a very great deal of experience at negotiating senior executive termination packages. We use a bespoke instruction checklist for gathering all relevant information efficiently and have written an Excel spreadsheet for calculating tax and the value of your claims quickly and precisely.
Types of clients
The vast majority of our work arises from personal recommendations from previous Clients. Over many years we have got used to taking action against the same company time and time again because our name gets passed from executive to executive.
One major software company got so used to paying our costs that it put us on its preferred supplier list to make payments easier in the future! Our company clients range from stock market listed companies and UK arms of major international software companies to small and medium-sized owner-managed businesses.
Our executive clients include main board directors, sales executives, professionals and managers. We deal with clients all over the world where English Law applies. This means that, although most of our executive clients are in the UK, we deal, for example, with Bermudan bankers, oil industry executives in Dubai, Managing Directors of European subsidiaries of English Companies and ex-pat executives from all over the world.
The cost to you will depend on the length of time taken to complete the work – our time recording and billing is transparent. Clients can see what is ‘on the clock’ at any time and receive an explanation of all charges with each bill.
Work Ethos
We think that cost-effective pragmatic advice means:
- Solutions to your problems: we aim to tell you what to do as quickly and as clearly as possible. Our Clients don’t want lengthy theoretical analysis nor a list of options. They want clear advice and to know what they have to do and why we have advised in the way we have.
- Sensible risk management: we don’t cover our backs by proving every possible scenario and setting out each risk in minute detail.
- Honesty in respect of costs and value for money: we aim to reduce the cost as much as possible by being fast and accurate first time. We use standard documents and prepared letters where possible. Unlike other law firms, we don’t pretend they are bespoke and charge accordingly.
- We work very hard.