Constantine Law

Principal Contact: John Hayes: [email protected]

UK Partners: 12

Other UK Fee-Earners: 4

Firm Overview

Established in 2015, Constantine Law ("Employment and Regulatory Solutions at Work") is a UK national law firm, headquartered in London, with a highly experienced team of lawyers consisting of employment, business immigration, regulatory and business crime specialists. Constantine Law is a partner-led firm, engaging experienced employment and regulatory lawyers to provide solutions-orientated advice to its clients. The Firm is highly entrepreneurial and has stripped out many of the overheads of traditional law in order to pass on cost-savings to clients.

Constantine Law's core values are:

• Clarity: direct, solutions-orientated advice from experienced lawyers
• Modernity: a modern law firm deploying modern solutions to meet the needs of our clients in changing times
• Value: lower overheads and a leaner business model results in a more cost effective price for clients than rival firms
• Collaboration: active engagement with both our clients and each other respecting the time, autonomy and experience of all

Main Areas of Practice

For Employers: acting in the main for "middle market" employers. Many of Constantine Law's clients are owner-managed and the firm has acted for them for many years.

For Employees: acting for senior executives, partners leaving law firms and senior wealth managers moving firms.

Constantine Law provides the following areas of advice to its employer and employee clients:

1. Restrictive covenant and injunctive relief work: regular litigation in the High Court and obtaining injunctions for clients and/or defending claims on behalf of employees and helping them to set up their new businesses.
2. Employment agency and recruitment work: a Trusted Partner of APSCO and contributor to the sector's policy discussion. The firm acts for a number of the UK's largest privately owned businesses.
3. Complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims: Constantine Law conducts internal investigations for clients in relation to complex discrimination and whistleblowing grievances. We also act for senior executives and partners bringing high-value claims against banks and law firms. Many of our cases have been reported in the press.
4. Partner hires and acting for law firms and wealth-management businesses: The firm does the "own spend" employment law advice work for a clutch of UK law firms, in particular advising on partner exits. We also handle partner-exits on a regular basis for partners leaving firms and negotiating settlement deeds for them. The firm also manages the hiring processes for wealth management and other financial services businesses.
5. TUPE due diligence and corporate support work: Constantine Law acts for US law firms where they lack capability to carry out employment law due diligence exercises.
6. Settlement Agreements: preparing settlement agreements for employers and advising on behalf of numerous settlement agreements for employees.
7. Contracts and Handbooks: Constantine Law provides the full suite of contractual documentation to its corporate clients and advises employees on improving their terms.
8. Business Immigration: The firm assists employers in their sponsor-licence work in getting highly skilled workers into the UK.

Dual Expertise:  

Constantine Law employment and regulatory teams have provided their dual expertise to benefit individuals subject to investigations and challenges in the workplace.

Regulatory and Criminal Investigations: 

Constantine Law has a ranked team in this area and advises professionals and businesses in their interactions with UK regulators with enforcement powers including accountancy and finance, legal and healthcare sectors. It has an experienced, versatile and cost-effective team who have worked in private practice, in-house for global financial institutions and with government authorities in the UK.

In particular, Sarah Wallace leads a team which acts for individuals in the legal, accountancy and financial services sectors who face enforcement action whether from regulators or prosecuting authorities.

Memberships & Associations 

Constantine Law is an active member of the following organisations:

(a) ELA: where John Hayes is a regular "mentor" at pastoral events and all employment lawyers are regular attendees and contributors at ELA events. Alan Lewis writes regularly in People Management on behalf of the CIPD. All members of the team regularly publish articles for the wider employment law and business community.

(b) Association of Partnership Practitioners: where John Hayes attends as part of the firm's commitment to partnerships and law firms.

(c) ILPA: Where Caroline Glacken, and Zahra Mahmood attend events and contribute to debate in the business immigration field.

(d) Trade Organisations: APSCO, BITA, WISE and host of other business-focused trade sector bodies.

Offices 

The firm's main office is at 8 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4JU, but our firm are largely remotely based and has hubs in Manchester and Birmingham.