Chris Cook Partner | Head of Employment & Data Protection

Expertise

I specialise in employment and data protection law, and I advise businesses and individuals on all aspects of their rights and responsibilities in both areas.

I advise employers on procedural issues such as disciplinary and grievance matters, with extensive experience in collective redundancy/restructuring programmes and transfer of undertakings for business ownership transfers and service provision changes. A large proportion of my work involves Employment Tribunal litigation, and where appropriate, I negotiate directly with opponents or via ACAS to achieve the best possible outcome for my clients.

I regularly advise individuals who are undergoing redundancy or restructuring programmes, including advice on the processes that their employers should be following, how to handle consultation meetings, and negotiating redundancy compensation packages.

The data protection advice I give is comprehensive, including both advising on and undertaking data audits to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 (incorporating the UK GDPR), making and managing data subject access requests, drafting data protection documentation (such as privacy notices and data protection policies), managing data breaches, and assisting in the resolution of disputes. I am also the firm’s Data Manager.

I also regularly write articles on a range of matters for the media and the SA Law website – you can read some of them here.

Key Experience

• Advising a large financial company operating a venture capital fund on the employment aspects of numerous investments
• Acting on behalf of several purchasers, dealing with due diligence, raising additional enquiries, preparing detailed reports, and warranty and indemnity advice.
• Acting on behalf of an employer in a High Court injunction and damages claim against a former employee
• Advising an insolvency practitioner on the employment aspects of a pre-pack administration
• Advising a private school on a personality clash dismissal, and representing the school in the subsequent unfair dismissal tribunal proceedings
• Advising in disciplinary proceedings, including acting for clients in disputes with the NHS, the Football Association and the Police force