For those who don’t know me, I’m a partner at Capsticks and advise employers mainly, but not solely, in the emergency services space. I also specialise in advising clients on industrial relations issues. I am passionate about improving diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and more widely. I have sat on ELA’s Management Committee since 2016.

I feel proud and privileged to be elected as ELA Chair, particularly as I am its first Chair with Afro-Caribbean heritage. As Chair, I would like ELA to remain an authoritative voice on employment law issues, improve member engagement, for members to feel more supported by ELA and for ELA to be a more diverse and inclusive organisation.

Authoritative voice

Key to this is ensuring we maintain our excellent working relationships with vital stakeholders in the employment world such as the employment judiciary, Acas and the Department of Business Enterprise & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and internationally.

Our fundamental aims are to promote the best practice of employment law; and to support the work and represent the interest of employment lawyers in the UK. We have over 6,000 members drawn from all branches of the legal profession, representing both sides of industry. It is because we can draw upon such range and depth of experience that when we speak, stakeholders listen.

Earlier this year, I was fortunate to be able to represent ELA at the European Employment Lawyers Annual Conference, where I had the opportunity discuss the employment law issues we all face and how we advise on them in our various jurisdictions. What pleased me most was how valued ELA’s voice is internationally. This is in no small part to the work of ELA’s International Committee and its chair, Kathleen Healy.

Improving racial diversity within the employment law community

During the past 18 months, I am really pleased that ELA has supported the launch of its Race Equality Committee. It aims to: improve access to careers in employment law for people from BAME backgrounds; and create a network of BAME employment lawyers and non-BAME allies who can share insight, experiences and provide mutual support to those already within the profession. Upcoming initiatives/events will include: a pilot reverse mentoring scheme; a career in employment law event aimed at students; and working with the Legislative & Policy Committee on the equitable briefing as it relates to race. I would like to thank the outgoing co-chairs: Shubha Banerjee and Raoul Parekh, for their work in setting up this sub-committee. I look forward to working with the incoming co-chairs – Bina Patel, Rebecca Hays and Melvyna Mumunie – and the other members of this committee.

Pastoral care

Covid-19 caused us to consider whether we were taking care of our wellbeing. ELA set up a Pastoral Committee and ran a series of events to help members take better care of their mental health. I would like to thank Jude Harris, the outgoing chair of this committee, for all her hard work.

While Covid-19 appears to be dissipating, the workload pressures on employment lawyers have not decreased. On the contrary, the nature of the work employment lawyers do often has life/business changing implications. With the cost-of-living crisis hitting our economy and individuals hard, this is giving rise to additional pressures being put on employment lawyers for their advice. Beth Hale, the incoming chair of the Pastoral Committee, and I intend to ensure that we continue to offer practical measures that provide pastoral support to our members.

I hope to meet/speak to as many of you as possible. If you have any ideas about how we can better engage with you please do not hesitate to contact our Head of Operations James Jeynes (jamesj [at] elaweb.org.uk (Jamesj[at]elaweb[dot]org[dot]uk)).

Paul McFarlane, Capsticks Solicitors LLP and ELA Chair