Birmingham Team Welcomes Legal Director

Our Birmingham hub welcomes legal director Helen Dyke to its employment team

Having previously acted as the client relationship lead for the Association of Colleges – which included the management of its employment legal helpline – Helen specialises in the education sector, predominately working with further education colleges, in respect of a wide-range of employment law issues. Helen also works with a wide range of employers from commercial sectors.

Helen delivers practical and strategic advice on complex matters, including redundancy and restructuring, disciplinary and grievance issues, absence and performance management, contractual changes, discrimination, TUPE, restrictive covenants and Trade Union disputes. She also regularly provides bespoke training to clients and presents at conferences.

Bringing with her more than 15 years’ experience advising employers, Helen – who will be based at our Birmingham hub but working with clients nationally – has joined the firm after almost 12 years at Irwin Mitchell.

Helen said: “I am absolutely delighted to have joined Shakespeare Martineau’s employment team. The team has a fantastic reputation, which can be seen by its recent band 1 ranking in Chambers & Partners 2024 guide. I am looking forward to working alongside the education and employment partners to deliver sound advice and legal expertise to the education sector, in addition to the firm’s commercial employment team.”

We are proactively seeking talented people to join the firm on its growth journey, including mergers, team recruitment and lateral hires nationally.

Helen’s appointment is the latest in a string of new hires as part of the firm’s growth strategy, broadening its footprint both north and south. Recently, we welcomed partner Mark Taylor to our education team, advising on commercial issues and governance.

David Browne, lead employment partner for the education sector at Shakespeare Martineau, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Helen to the firm; her broad sector-specific experience and commitment to excellence in service delivery will be a real asset to our team as we continue supporting educational institutions to thrive in an ever-evolving and rapidly-changing landscape.”