Jacqueline is a leading employment law specialist with extensive experience in all aspects of both non-contentious matters (contracts, policy and procedure) and contentious matters, with a strong track record in gaining results in Tribunal and High Court claims.
She regularly advises companies and senior executives on exit strategies and restrictive covenants in addition to advising on employment-related aspects of business reorganisations and change management, including redundancy programmes, corporate transactions, outsourcing arrangements and TUPE.
Jacqueline acts for clients in a wide range of sectors including IT, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, professional services, education and charities. She also regularly runs bespoke training workshops for clients, comments in the press and presents at seminars throughout the country and is a member of the Employment Lawyers’ Association.
Expertise
- Advising on all aspects of employment law
- Negotiating and drafting directors’ service agreements and contracts of employment
- Employment claims in the High Court including bonus claims, confidentiality issues and restrictive covenants
- Employment Tribunal proceedings
- Discrimination claims
- Negotiating executive severance packages
- Settlement agreements
- Employee/staff handbooks, practices and policies
- Performance issues, disciplinary and grievance procedures
- Bullying and harassment
- Whistleblowing
- Maternity, paternity and shared parental leave policies
- Redundancies and restructuring
- Corporate support on transactions
- TUPE
- Data protection
- In-house training and seminars
Experience
- Successfully defending a high-value bonus claim in the High Court
- Enforcing restrictive covenants in the High Court against two former directors and successfully defending their constructive dismissal claims in the employment tribunal
- Advising an international client on restructuring of UK business
- Successfully defending an HMRC challenge regarding the employment status of several thousand staff for an international company
- Advising an international client on a union recognition agreement
- Acted for various schools and colleges, including defending a group action equal pay claim for the John Madejski Academy.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised by Best Lawyers (UK) in the practice area of Employment Law (2014 – 2024)
Jacqueline McDermott joined Keystone Law from Field Seymour Parkes in 2014. She acts on contentious, advisory and transactional cases for numerous major clients. “I appreciate the quality of her advice. In the event that she doesn’t have an answer immediately, she will do her research and always follow up” said one interviewee, while another recommends her “quick and to-the-point replies, supported by accurate and up-to-date knowledge.” Chambers UK 2015
“clear, direct and quickly understands the client’s angle” Legal 500 2014
“dynamic” Chambers UK 2014
Career
Jacqueline qualified as a solicitor in 1998. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2014, she worked at the following firms:
- Field Seymour Parkes
- Pitmans
- Penningtons
- Rosling King