Blog
Supporting staff when they need it most
Francesca Lopez
“extraordinarily good from a client perspective"
Francesca is a skilled employment lawyer, with extensive experience acting on both sides of the negotiating table. From recruitment to termination, she handles the full spectrum of employment law matters, advising clients in a variety of sectors including but not limited to legal, financial and other professional services, technology, education, medicine, aviation and defence. She has a particular interest in acting for regulated clients.
Francesca is a smart litigator, who has successfully represented employers and senior executives in the Employment Tribunal. She regularly pursues and defends claims for discrimination, sexual misconduct, breach of contract, unfair dismissal, and whistleblowing. She understands the impact that dealing with stressful workplace situations can have on those involved, and works hard to put her clients at ease.
She has a proven track record of acting with compassion and clarity, cutting through the legalese to provide practical, strategic and user-friendly advice. She has been described as a “talented lawyer”, notable for her “thoughtful and well-informed advice”.
Francesca regularly presents seminars and briefings for clients. She also writes for a number of personnel trade journals and online publications. Francesca is listed in the Pro Bono Recognition List 2025.
What clients and directories say
I could not have been more pleased with the level of support and guidance given to me by Francesca. She has been amazing - and a really rare combination of professional and friendly but also patient and clear in her advice and guidance.”
Global HR Business Partner for a British Newspaper
Your advice has been excellent – and also your support.”
Senior Executive, PR & Strategy
I very much appreciate all the help you gave in what was a stressful situation and one that could have ended very differently.”
Senior Executive, Financial Services
Incredibly incisive" with "a clear understanding of the case and what mattered most"
Counsel
It was Francesca’s tactical awareness which most impressed me. It is one thing to read a case, learn the facts and to understand the law, but tactics requires an additional level of insight, understanding and to put them into effect, communication skills”
Counsel
Francesca displayed a keen insight into technical details of the case”
Counsel
She exerted an air of calmness and control”
Counsel
Recent cases
- Representing professional services firms in unfair dismissal and whistleblowing claims and advising on harassment and blackmail allegations.
- Advising senior executives employed by a national newspaper and a city lobby group, respectively, in connection with their termination and potential sex discrimination claims.
- Advising a corporate client in connection with allegations of employee fraud and internal investigations.
- Advising a leading fashion brand in relation to multiple redundancies, performance management issues and employee grievances.
- Representing a public sector body and a leading accountancy firm, respectively, in connection with complex disability discrimination claims.
- Advising a company director in connection with disciplinary action being taken against him, and his grievances against his employer.
- Advising well-known firms in respect of flexible working, reasonable adjustments, bonus and commission schemes, restrictive covenants, and the drafting of handbooks, employment contracts and service agreements.
PUBLICATIONS & PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
Articles
- How can organisations best support grieving staff? - Published in People Management, January 2025
- Keeping the Christmas party legal - Published in People Management, November 2024
- How to read gender pay gap data for finance firms, and what to do about it - Published in E-financialcareers, March 2018
- Drug Testing in the Workplace: the Difficulties for Employers - Published in HR Magazine, October 2014
- Managing difficult employees: how do you solve a problem like Mario? - Published in HR Magazine, September 2014
- Legal HR tips: Managing compassionate leave - Published in HR Magazine, July 2014
- Partnership members blowing the whistle gain employment protection, PM Daily
- Employers’ concerns over state-run occupational health service, People Management
Quoted
- Quoted in the Daily Mail and This is Money on the new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment - December 2024
- Weekly Notes: legal news - Quoted in ICLR, November 2024
- Labour’s Bill on employment rights strikes positive notes with lawyers - Quoted in New Law Journal, October 2024
- Top Takeaways From The Employment Rights Bill - Quoted in Law360, October 2024
Professional societies and memberships
- Employment Lawyers Association (ELA)
- The Law Society
- Discrimination Law Association (DLA)
-
Industrial Law Society (ILS
