Cath Thorpe

Cath Thorpe heads RPC's Employment, Pensions and Incentives Group and is an employment specialist dealing with a full range of matters. Cath assists companies with reorganisations, TUPE and outsourcing issues. She has significant expertise in discrimination and harassment cases, including high value claims. Cath advises regularly in connection with dismissals and termination packages. Cath drafts and negotiates employment contracts and policies and advises on grievance and disciplinary procedures. She acts for both companies and senior executives in relation to remuneration packages including bonuses, share options and other incentives and benefits. Cath advises in high value contractual disputes including claims for misuse of confidential information and arising from breach of restrictive covenants.

Cath is a winner of the Legal 500 "Employment Team of the Year" award and is a regular speaker on employment issues, particularly TUPE and managing discrimination. She has an LLM distinction in employment law.

Memberships

• Employment Lawyers Association
• Industrial Law Society
• Discrimination Law Association

Selected directory listings

• "The 'professional and prompt' Cath Thorpe gives her clients 'strong, practical and commercial advice'" - Chambers UK 2013
• "'a logical, practical, commercial stance' ...offers 'prompt, constructive answers'" - Chambers UK 2012
• "a go-to person for legal knowledge and commercially sensible advice" - The Legal 500, 2011 edition
• 'Cath Thorpe is superbly efficient: “She cuts through the nonsense to get straight to the point"' - Chambers UK 2011
• "known for being pragmatic and cutting to the chase, she also has particular expertise in discrimination and TUPE matters" - Chambers UK 2010
• "provides 'easy-to-understand advice on complex issues.'" - Chambers UK 2009
• "Good negotiating skills and hard resolve" - The Legal 500, 2008 edition
• "Unwavering and consistent" - The Legal 500, 2008 edition
• "Cath Thorpe and her team are praised for their speed of response and 'in depth knowledge." - The Legal 500, 2007 edition

Examples of relevant work

• Wilson v St Helens Borough Council IRLR [1999] - seminal House of Lords case on changing terms and conditions after a TUPE transfer
• Preston v Wolverhampton Healthcare NHS Trust IRLR [2001] - House of Lords and ECJ case dealing with sex discrimination and occupational pension schemes
• Howard v Governors of Brixington Infants School and another [1998] - EAT claim for breach of contract and wrongful dismissal
• Hansen v Farrell Matthews Weir [2004] - EAT claim for constructive dismissal and failure to pay discretionary bonus
• HMV Music Limited v Noonan and Virgin Retail Limited [2005] - successfully obtained a non compete injunction on behalf of HMV
• Takeover of Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite Limited by Rensburg Plc [2006] - advising CSC on all employment aspects

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