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Portrait of Chris Syder

Profile

Chris is a partner in the employment team in London, with more than 25 years’ experience as a UK employment law specialist. His practice covers all aspects of English employment law, ranging from HR advisory to cross border compliance, trade union and employee relations issues, collective redundancies/restructuring, restrictive covenants, and whistleblowing. Chris also advises on employment tribunal claims, handling senior level grievances/disciplinaries and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) regulatory issues. As one of our North America group lead partners, his role includes working regularly with US and Canadian clients.

A CEDR accredited mediator, Chris has a keen interest in employment and commercial mediation. He has significant experience in the construction and infrastructure, professional services, and technology sectors, having been instructed by many leading organisations and senior executives. For many years, he has been recognised as a leader in his field by both Chambers UK and The Legal 500.

From 2011 to 2017, Chris was the CBI’s governing body representative for the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a specialised agency in the United Nations. Consequently, he fully understands the ILO’s supervisory system and the challenges faced by unionised businesses, especially those that are alleged to have breached ILO freedom of association and collective bargaining conventions. He has been named in the UK Top 100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers’ Index, which acknowledges individuals from all business sectors who are raising awareness of modern slavery and labour exploitation.

Since 2019, he has collaborated with the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) by sitting on their disciplinary panels to determine cases of breaches of APSCA’s code of professional standards. Chris was previously head of employment at a London-based international law firm and has more than a decade of successful City experience.

Recent work highlights

  • Acting for an international law firm in connection with the successful resolution of significant claims pursued under the Equality Act 2010.
  • Co-ordinating a project for the multi-jurisdictional development of HR policies and procedures.
  • Managing significant data subject access requests for a variety of employer clients.
  • Successfully defending whistleblowing and disability discrimination claims pursued against an international construction company.
  • Advising a multi-national employer in connection with its engagement with the International Labour Organisation.

Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP

Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC311575 and is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 419867.

Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP