Patrick Brodie

With a group of six other partners, I am responsible for the Employment team, ensuring it has the knowledge, experience and quality of service to meet our clients' expectations. Our reputation depends on meeting those expectations. Our aim is to always exceed them.

Tel: +44 (0)870 733 0622

Email: patrick_brodie@wragge.com

Best brains in ...

I'm a TUPE disciple. I will say it proudly - I enjoy this area of the law! If understood and implemented effectively, it provides real opportunities to construct innovative solutions.

Highlight of your career so far?

Meeting the challenge of going open-plan. I'm not always that quiet.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

A project for an international manufacturer with a unionised workforce involved intra-group restructuring and subsequent disposals. Part of the exercise was to retain staff within some parts of the business from which all assets were being sold to avoid triggering a pensions debt. This involved a combination of really understanding the law, challenging presumptions and communicating the strategic picture, including complex TUPE arrangements, to unions and employees to win their co-operation when the usual reaction was one of suspicion and resistance. Some of the concepts were novel and untested. If the analysis was wrong then the liabilities were significant. I had the chance to make the judgement calls. They turned out to be the right ones. However, at the time, I don't recall being quite as relaxed as I am now recounting this!

What about outside the UK?

We work in a global market. Our employment lawyers frequently advise on the co-ordination of employment advice across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Equally, our international clients, particularly those from the US and Canada, looking to invest in the UK ask us to act as their local advisers and guide them through the various pitfalls of our legislation. On any day I'd expect to be dealing with an international-related query. That's simply the market we're in.

Best example of a creative legal solution?

When we were first asked to advise the Department of Health on the employment aspects of its Independent Sector Treatment Centre programme the stakes were high. The programme was viewed as the significant catalyst to reform within the NHS. But, it needed a solution to resolve the employment position of NHS staff. Others had tried, though none had succeeded. We had one week. We got there and the show could go on.

When have you ever given a client a real competitive edge?

The team's links across business, employer groups, time spent in Whitehall and regular engagements on difficult public and private sector TUPE issues means that often we have the solutions to the problems when people ask for our help.

What's your single greatest contribution to Wragge & Co's corporate responsibility?

I've walked over a few hills, jogged along some roads and run workshops as part of Wragge & Co's corporate responsibility, but I'd like to think that big single contribution remains to happen.

What's been written or said about you that you're most proud of?

It's always difficult to think of one particular quote. However, 'thank you for your help' at the end of a piece of work always sounds good.