Executive appointments and severance

How we can help

The senior management team is crucial to the success of any organisation. Attracting the right senior people and retaining them is an ever-present challenge. Compensation and benefits for executives and company directors are constantly under the spotlight. Furthermore, as the economy emerges from recession, employee mobility increases, so creating recruitment opportunities but also potential threats to the business from team moves, poaching or if senior post-holders simply move on.

At Eversheds Sutherland we understand the inevitable tensions between these factors and can help you make the right choices for your business and for your rewards structure.

Service agreements

At boardroom level there is no hiding from scrutiny of performance. Organisations must balance carefully the need to give directors contractual protection whilst maintaining essential safeguards for the business. Preparing a service agreement or other senior employment contract is no "tick-box" exercise. Furthermore, legislative changes and ever-developing case law on restrictive covenants and corporate governance require that such agreements are kept under regular review.

The sheer size of our team and its client base means that we have unrivalled knowledge that can drive the drafting and negotiation of terms relevant to individual executives and your business, whether in UK or over seas.

Rewards and bonuses

Not all forms of employee reward require legal in-put. However, some incentives are tightly regulated, particularly if tax breaks are part of the package. Particular attention is needed with share option schemes and bonuses. We have the expertise across specialist areas of the law to produce the most simple of reward schemes, to the complex.

Post termination restrictions

Movement of senior staff between competing businesses can present both opportunities and headaches. Employers need to be in a position to take advantage of recruitment opportunities but also to ensure that they protect their future business. Negotiating severance packages and termination payments can be an important part of business protection. From creating, interpreting to enforcing contracts, it is crucial to have solicitors who understand the intricacies of how restrictive covenants operate in practice as well as a thorough understanding of High Court practice. This is an evolving and specialised area of law where we have recognised experts in the field.

Financial services sector

Executive benefits and bonuses are under increasing scrutiny and ever tighter regulation. We are able to help firms in deciding what the FSA's principles, rules and guidance actually require in a particular situation; in capturing and recording the justifications that underlie a decision to operate in a particular manner; in designing arrangements to monitor performance and provide credible evidence that business is being conducted in the manner originally intended.

We can help you with preventative compliance, while still retaining your competitive edge.