Margarita Elia

Margarita is a Consultant in the Firm's Employment Department. She advises employers and employees on both contentious and non-contentious matters, including discrimination, executive terminations, unfair dismissal, restrictive covenants, bonus disputes, redundancies, and disciplinary, capability and grievance issues.

Margarita has particular experience handling complex multi-jurisdictional projects, large scale redundancies and reorganisations, employee consultation, TUPE and outsourcing, employment aspects of corporate transactions and employment aspects of data protection.

Her clients are drawn from a range of industries, including financial services, energy and utilities, technology and manufacturing.

Margarita is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association and the European Employment Lawyers Association.

Key Experience

• Day-to-day advice to domestic and international clients (e.g. HR Software, magazine publishers, international headhunters, a multinational electronics conglomerate) on contentious and non-contentious employment matters (including discrimination and unfair dismissal employment tribunal proceedings, restrictive covenant disputes, bonus disputes, disciplinary, capability and grievance issues, performance improvement plans, absence management, redundancies and Executive terminations).
• Advising a multinational electronics conglomerate on the implications and mechanics of implementing an employee monitoring programme.
• Advising on the employment aspects of a £185 million acquisition of a luxury goods retailer and dealing with subsequent director terminations.
• Advising on the closure of a final salary pension scheme for a well-known legal publisher.
• Advising a large energy supplier and its various subsidiaries on the employment aspects of a number of its business disposals, acquisitions and outsourcings; including a tender for a 10 Year £1 billion asset management outsourcing deal involving TUPE transfers, large scale collective consultation, industrial relations issues, and Beckman rights;
• Legal and strategic advice on a phased closure of a manufacturing plant and consequential redundancy programme, including strategic advice on off-shoring and TUPE implications; continued retention and redeployment; data protection and publicity issues arising from the closure.
• Advising the Board of a quoted Norwegian conglomerate (and its Swedish subsidiary) on the complex and multi-jurisdictional employment issues arising out of the creation of a new joint venture which combined its activities across Europe and North America with those of a US multinational. The transaction involved multiple TUPE transfers and consultations and a series of secondment arrangements.

Career History

Managing Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Associate, Dundas & Wilson LLP
Associate, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP (previously Stringer Saul LLP)
Solicitor, Colman Coyle LLP
City University, Business Law LLB (Honours)

Articles and Publications

The employment chapters in “Tolley 's Practical Guide to Directors ' Remuneration 2003