Meet
the team
Samantha Dickinson
Sam joins our growing Employment Law Team working
for both employers and employees to resolve disputes
and helping them avoid Employment Tribunal proceedings
whenever possible. Areas that Sam and the team
cover include resolving matters such as wrongful and
unfair dismissal, redundancy, equal pay, all forms of
discrimination, maternity, paternity or parental rights,
flexible working, or advising on a proposed settlement
agreement.
Having only joined Mayo Wynne
Baxter in January, its great to have this
opportunity to introduce myself in Re:
Magazine so here’s a little bit about
me and a little bit more about how the
Employment Law team at MWB can help
employers be proactive and minimise
their risk of Employment Tribunal claims.
I was lucky enough to grow up abroad;
living an ex-pat life in sunny countries
around the world including Mexico,
Costa Rica, Venezuela, Kenya and
Taiwan. I was a too young to remember
a lot of it but my formative years were
spent in Kenya and Taiwan and my
memories of the latter are particularly
clear. We enjoyed visiting mountainside
teahouses, busy city temples and
stunning beaches. We ate amazing
food and met some wonderful people
and Taiwan will always be my favourite
country in the world.
I was left with inherent wanderlust and
after university I went travelling again
(the obligatory gap year!) until the
money ran out and law school called me
back to the UK and I studied at Chester
30
College of Law before doing a MA in
criminology at Keele University.
I worked at a firm in Manchester until
my itchy feet got the better of me and
I moved south to Tunbridge Wells and
then on to Brighton where I have been
for the last 9 years – which is the longest
period of time that I have ever lived in
any one place.
While I have worked in a few different
areas of law since qualifying in 2001 I
have been practising employment law
for 9 years and it is by far my preferred
specialism.
We all spend so much time at work
that it is important for everybody that
things are done properly when it comes
to employee relations. I also like the
fact that the law in this area changes
regularly but I know that can be difficult
for employers who are naturally focused
on their business and might not have
time to keep abreast of legislative
changes and developments in case law.
By Samantha Dickinson