Our firm is led by Luke Menzies, a dual-qualified barrister and solicitor, currently practising as a solicitor.*
Luke has extensive experience of employment law and industrial relations, both as a trusted business adviser and as a successful trial lawyer and litigator. Luke brings to his practice a wealth of knowledge and a pragmatic, commercial attitude based on his wide experience of solving clients’ problems and working closely with HR managers to achieve their goals.
After obtaining an LLM (master of laws) in Commercial Law from the University of Bristol and qualifying in 1996 as a barrister, with the award of ‘outstanding’ for advocacy skills, Luke initially practiced as a self-employed barrister before joining Bond Pearce, a premier South West firm and, subsequently, Stephenson Harwood in the City of London, where he worked with two of the UK’s leading employment lawyers and developed an expertise in large and complex employment litigation, including several multi-million pound, high-profile cases. After his return westwards for a better quality of life, Luke spent a period as Head of Employment at Berry Smith in Cardiff, followed by several years as a senior adviser at EEF (formerly the Engineering Employers’ Federation), where he developed a loyalty amongst many leading manufacturing businesses in the South West and Wales for his tenacious and thorough approach to Employment Tribunal claims, whilst remaining approachable and pragmatic in his advice, very aware of the realities of business and the priorities of his clients.
Luke formed our specialist firm in January 2009, to capitalise on his knowledge and reputation in industry, and from the start has been advising an impressive list of leading manufacturing, aerospace, steel, defence and food & drink businesses, including several household names and members of global industrial groups. Other sectors in which he is experienced are finance, insurance, education, architecture & design and retail & distribution.
In more youthful times Luke enjoyed travelling the world, including wildlife viewing in Kenya and the Galapagos Islands. His current spare time activities, busy family life allowing, include being a charitable trustee of an ancient castle in Scotland, playing music to and with his children and enjoying a good single malt.
* Regulatory information
Since Luke Menzies is presently practising as a solicitor, he is not concurrently practising as a barrister. Consequently, the Bar Code of Conduct requires us to confirm the following:
- Luke Menzies does not currently hold a barrister’s practising certificate under the Bar Code of Conduct;
- the Bar Code of Conduct places limitations on the legal services he may undertake in his capacity as a barrister, as set out in Part II of that Code;
- he is not fully regulated by the Bar Council; and
- given the above, the Bar Council does not provide compensatory powers for any inadequate professional services he may render in his capacity as a barrister.
Our Assistant Director Catherine Mitchell has wide experience of all aspects of employment law. She advises a wide variety of businesses in the South West, including those in the manufacturing, retail, care and construction industries. She has acted for a number of charities and retains close links with the voluntary sector.
Clients appreciate Catherine’s calm and very personable nature and enjoy working with her. She is thorough and a good communicator, always seeking to ensure that she and her clients think through issues fully, and remembering to consider the practical implications of her advice and how it might be realistically carried out.
Catherine trained with the leading Bristol law firm TLT before going on to establish the Employment Law departments at two West Country law firms. Prior to training as a solicitor, Catherine was for eight years a manager with two national housing associations and a local authority, and her experience of directly managing staff and running a business unit, which provided her with the impetus to specialise in employment law, gives her a genuinely ‘hands-on’ understanding of the HR and legal issues faced by managers and employers. This broad, practical perspective forms the backdrop to the clear and pragmatic legal advice that she provides to clients.
Catherine contributes to employment law articles in the local press and holds employment law seminars for local businesses in the Somerset and Wiltshire area.
Having been dragged reluctantly from the bright lights of the city to rural Somerset in 2000, Catherine finds that she has now embraced some of the pleasures of the countryside and secretly keeps chickens. With a young family, the interests she admits to include books, dog-walking, pilates, theatre (but only in the big city) and entertaining.
Our Associate Solicitor Ruth Streeter prides herself on her ability to look at issues strategically from the outset and she aims to work with all her clients to put them in the best possible position in the circumstances. Clients value Ruth’s consistently clear and commercially sound advice and also her friendly, straight-forward and particularly down-to-earth style.
Ruth has extensive experience of advising a broad range of both employers (from construction/engineering companies to retail and financial institutions) and employees in all aspects of employment law. Throughout her career she has regularly advised on the usual matters such as dismissals, discrimination, collective and individual redundancies, changes to terms and conditions, maternity rights and general, day-to-day HR advice, including disciplinary, grievance, performance and absence management issues. She enjoys developing relationships with HR and senior management teams and working to support them in all the HR/legal issues they have to deal with.
Ruth trained and qualified as a solicitor specialising in employment law in 2001 at the City of London law firm Stephenson Harwood. During her time there she worked very closely with two of the UK’s leading employment lawyers and had the pleasure of sharing an office with Luke. Ruth benefited significantly from a 6-month secondment to HSBC Bank plc’s Employee Relations Team, where she gained invaluable insights into not only the legal, but also the practical day-to-day side, of ER in the workplace.
Subsequently, Ruth joined Pinsent Masons, a leading national law firm, in 2004 and, following her ‘escape to the country’ in 2007, she worked with the large South West regional firm Foot Anstey from 2007 until she joined our team in January 2010.
Ruth regularly writes articles and delivers seminars on employment law. She lives in Somerset with her husband and young son. She enjoys country walks, good food and wine, travel, scuba diving and watching In the Night Garden.
Our Associate Solicitor Jenni Andrews has a wide range of experience as an employment law expert in advising both employers and employees. She has developed a particular specialism in advising directors and senior executives.
Qualifying in 2001, Jenni’s legal career started at a High Street firm in Gloucestershire, where she was entirely responsible for developing the firm’s employment department. She then moved to national law firm Eversheds in Cardiff, where she gained a wealth of experience advising major national and international corporations on all aspects of employment law, from general, day-to-day HR support to complex legal disputes. For one large client she project-managed and co-ordinated all HR support and legal advice across its sites in the US, Asia and Europe.
Jenni later moved to Burroughs Day in Bristol (now Quality Solicitors Burroughs Day) where, benefitting from working closely with the highly rated expert David Thomas, she developed a niche specialism in advising company directors, senior executives and other employees. During this period Jenni’s work covered everything from straightforward dismissals to complex TUPE and discrimination claims. Jenni’s 15 minutes of fame came shortly after her move to Burroughs Day, when she represented a number of individuals who had applied for positions with the Police force and who were suing for unlawful discrimination. The case made it to the national press as well as local television and radio.
Jenni’s clients appreciate her supportive, easy nature and ability to listen. She takes a very balanced, common sense approach to providing advice and resolving disputes, but is resolute and tactical in obtaining the very best results for her clients. She has been cited in leading legal directory Legal 500 as providing “pivotal” advice.
Jenni lives in the Cotswolds with her husband and young family. She enjoys spending time with her family outdoors and, if time allows, she enjoys water sports and dreams of owning something slightly larger than her small racing dinghy.
Our Business Manager Sherrie Slater is responsible for the finance and administration of Menzies Law.
Sherrie began her career at Rolls-Royce, undertaking a Business Apprenticeship which involved a significant stint working on the shop floor. After a period working in contract management, Sherrie had a short time at home with her children before returning briefly to Rolls-Royce. Initially attracted by the family friendly hours offered, Sherrie began a career in schools at a time when they were being asked to manage their own budgets. This quickly developed and culminated in her becoming a School Business Manager and member of the Senior Management Team. Over the years, and through several different schools with diverse needs, Sherrie has gained a wealth of experience covering the core areas of Finance, HR, Facilities Management and Health & Safety.
Sherrie is fully aware of how precious time can be for our clients, and through her own experience of leading schools through change management and other HR issues, can empathise with the problems facing senior management teams today.
Sherrie lives in Bristol and, with the nest rapidly emptying, she is finding herself other distractions such as reading, eating out, and organising activity laden holidays abroad.
Our Consultant Rebecca Ranauta is an experienced and very competent adviser who practiced as a specialist employment solicitor for 9 years before taking her CIPD exams and currently offers her services as an HR Consultant with Assoc CIPD status.
Rebecca blends her specialist legal knowledge with hands-on HR knowledge to provide a very practical, pragmatic approach to all she does.
Rebecca originally qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and worked for leading national law firm Beachcroft LLP for 7 years, later spending 2 years at Howes Percival LLP. She advised a wide variety of both public and private sector clients, varying from multinational plc’s to SME’s, across a variety of sectors, in particular media, insurance, technology, government agencies and the NHS.
Rebecca has dealt with a broad spread of human resources and employment law issues, including the Employment Tribunal litigation and advising on all areas of discrimination.
Rebecca has now added HR qualification to her range of skills, in keeping with our firm’s aims of being highly practical, approachable and focused on our client’s needs and priorities, and as ‘user-friendly’ to the HR profession as possible.