Employment law advice for company directors or senior executives

As a company director or senior executive, your terms of employment may be different to those of your junior colleagues. Your position will often include a variety of benefits, with a large proportion of your remuneration often delivered in the form of short term and long term incentive plans (STIPs and LTIPs), which may include share options or significant cash bonuses.

You will also be subject to various provisions in your contract or service agreement that can significantly impact or restrict your activities and entitlements, should you leave the business. These may include, for instance, extensive garden leave provisions, wide-ranging post-termination restrictions, and notice provisions that seek to limit what you will be paid on termination of employment.

In addition, you will often be subject to aspects of Company law, which may require particular attention to be paid to your terms and conditions.

These special circumstances merit expert attention. Our employment lawyers are on hand to advise you whenever you need help or guidance. In particular, we add real value and protect your interests at two key times: when you join, and when you leave.

• help you negotiate more beneficial terms and conditions, including highlighting any unfair or overly restrictive obligations
• review and advise on proposed bonus terms
• advise on the benefits of removing or revising unfair ‘payment in lieu of notice’ terms
• advise on the extent of any garden leave and post-termination restrictions, with a view to renegotiating where required, such as carving-out existing client relationships.

If you are considering an exit, our expert employment lawyers can advise you and develop a strategy on how to approach the business to put you in the best position. Similarly, if you have been offered a settlement agreement, or if you have already been dismissed, our expert employment lawyers are on hand to advise on how to protect your interests and, where possible, negotiate a favourable settlement.

For instance, we can:

• advise you on your contractual entitlements such as notice pay, benefits and pension, to ensure you are not losing out
• advise you, often in conjunction with our Corporate team, on matters such as shares and share options
• negotiate often significant increases in any ex gratia payments to reflect potential claims such as unfair dismissal, whistleblowing or discrimination
• negotiate on restrictions so that you are better placed to take up new employment as soon as possible, maximising the benefit of your severance package
• negotiate internal or external announcements to protect your reputation.

Our Senior Executive team’s expertise and high-quality service is recognised by the Legal Directories. The Legal Directories award the best lawyers in the UK after feedback from clients and other lawyers and have recognised RWK Goodman’s employment team as a leader for employment law for senior executives (which includes C-Suite, executive and non-executive directors, Listed and private companies, senior employees, directors, shareholders and founders). We act for clients in the in Financial Services, Insurance, Technology and Professional Services sectors. Most recently, the Legal 500 (2025) and Chambers (2025) have recognised the RWK Goodman’s employment expertise in dealing with employment issues for Senior Executives in the London, UK. If you are a senior employee and need specialist employment advice for a complex or sensitive issue please speak with us about how we can help. Our specialist senior executive lawyers are experienced, approachable with an excellent reputation. We help resolve high-value and high-profile issues for our clients. We work closely with our clients to understand their aims and achieve the best financial, commercial and reputational outcome.

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