Alex Watson

Partner (Employment) @Fieldfisher

I am a Partner in Fieldfisher\'s EPIC (Employment, Pensions, Immigration and Compliance) team. I specialise in contentious employment work, director/shareholder disputes and exit strategies, national minimum wage compliance issues, outsourcing and TUPE and managing risk in employment relations. I regularly appear in the Employment Tribunal on behalf of employers. I advise on a variety of sectors and transactions, including; multimillion pound restructures, outsourcing arrangements, employment and employee engagement strategies, international structuring, employment aspects of corporate acquisitions and disposals and employee relations advice (including dismissal procedures, managing grievances, whistleblowing and safeguarding issues, redundancy processes, board and senior executive disputes and restrictive covenant enforcement). I have particular experience and expertise in leisure and hospitality, retail, food manufacture, logistics and supply chain businesses and sports law. Recent Highlights • Successfully representing the British Cycling Federation in the landmark case of Varnish v British Cycling (1) and UK Sport (22••••19/2017; • Advising in connection with a £33m acquisition of a tech company and a $50m US acquisition involving multi-jurisdictional restructure; • Supplier of choice for Employment Tribunal representation for a leading UK group of brands of pubs, bars and nightclubs; • Advising a multinational fashion retailer on directors\' reporting obligations and providing strategic and best practice advice on its global modern slavery initiatives; • For a multinational food production company, strategic advice on the relocation of its national warehousing facilities and the incorporation of automation, resulting in employment cost savings in excess of £3mil- Advising a US multinational clothing manufacturer on its acquisition of a number of UK and European businesses, providing high level advice on European TUPE and ARD obligations.