Alison Dixon

I'm a partner in our International HR Services group, which I co-head, based in London. I have more than ten years' experience advising clients on complex employment law issues.

Here at Bird & Bird, I advise on both contentious and non-contentious issues, including the handling of disciplinary and grievance matters, redundancies (both individual and collective) and restructuring, Employment Tribunal proceedings, severance negotiations and the drafting of contractual and policy documentation, as well as cross-border HR issues and projects for international clients.

Over the years, I have developed particular expertise in advising on the employment aspects of commercial transactions including the application of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, and have advised a number of clients on the often stressful, fast moving and complicated situations that can affect their staff and their businesses on the termination of commercial agreements. I am a member of our Retail & Consumer sector group and within that, our Hotels & Leisure sub-group.

I am passionate about practising employment law because at the heart of almost every issue I advise on are individuals, each with their own particular personality and outlook on life and work. This infinite variety means that identical legal issues can have very different outcomes depending on who is involved, and the advice I provide on any given scenario has to take that into account. I have recently been fascinated by the development of the #MeToo movement and the effect this is starting to have on the way in which workplace sexual harassment is handled within organisations, and on the legal framework governing workplace harassment more generally. I continue to follow developments in this area closely and have produced a series of video blogs on the topic.

I joined Bird & Bird as a trainee back in 2002 and qualified into our UK Employment team in 2004. Since joining, I have seen our International HR Services team grow from a small handful of lawyers and offices into a truly global operation with 100+ lawyers across multiple jurisdictions.

• Advising a UK public services and consulting company on the employment aspects of their acquisition of parts of the Carillion business in liquidation, including advice on the handling of employee transfers and negotiation of commercial agreements.
• Supporting a global consumer products business on all day-to-day HR matters in the UK including grievances, senior executive terminations, redundancies and maternity issues and co-ordinating the provision of employment advice from other Bird & Bird jurisdictions.
• Advising a US headquartered tech business on the HR aspects of a global downsizing project covering 16 jurisdictions.
• Advising an international defence and cybersecurity business on handling a complex employee grievance and providing follow up training to senior management on workplace equality and diversity.
• Providing all day-to-day UK employment advice to a global sports media business, including (inter alia) the defence of employment tribunal claims, settlement agreement negotiations, employment status advice and support on TUPE matters.