Search

How can we help?

Helen Beech

Senior Consultant

Helen Beech

Senior Consultant

“Helen Beech is a top-class employment lawyer. Always available, always on top of the issues. We have used her for some of our most difficult situations and she always leads an efficient and committed team”

The Legal 500

Helen Beech is a senior consultant in the employment team. 

Helen has over 30 years’ experience and has been ranked band 1 in Chambers and Partners 2023 in employment and HR related matters.

She is an industrial relations specialist having been involved in a significant number of high profile and complex restructurings and change programmes, supporting her clients, in both unionised and non-unionised environments to negotiate their way through the challenges of pay disputes, contingency planning, reputation management, strikes and union recognition bids. She has a wealth of experience advising on and managing large-scale consultation processes, employee engagement programmes and setting up employee forums.

She also acts for both companies and individuals negotiating settlement packages, often in situations involving complex discrimination issues, ranging from disability, transgender and race discrimination as well as equal pay cases, often combined with whistleblowing allegations and reputation management challenges.

Helen is frequently recognised as a leading lawyer by a number of the legal guides including Chambers and Legal 500 for her focus on complex restructures, change programmes and TUPE matters.

Her significant expertise and longstanding trusted relationships with clients mean she always has a focus on practical and commercial solutions for businesses, drawing on other practice areas and specialist experience within the HR consultancy.

Experience

Redundancy / Restructuring

Helen has supported a number of major clients during the process of implementing major changes programmes including changes to terms & conditions, working arrangements, shifts patterns, closures of final salary or other pension schemes, managing the election process from start to finish, advising on collective consultation obligations and working with employee and trade union reps, supporting redundancy processes and minimising protective award risks.

TUPE and business transfers

Helen has supported a number of major clients during the process of implementing changes to or closures of final salary or other pension schemes, managing the election process from start to finish, including the auto-enrolment process, working with pension advisors to those facing the enrolment challenge.

Pension changes and auto-enrolment

Helen has supported a number of major clients during the process of implementing changes to or closures of final salary or other pension schemes, managing the election process from start to finish, including the auto-enrolment process, working with pension advisors to those facing the enrolment challenge.

Discrimination and harassment

Helen has supported a number of major clients during the process of implementing changes to or closures of final salary or other pension schemes, managing the election process from start to finish, including the auto-enrolment process, working with pension advisors to those facing the enrolment challenge.

Industrial Relations

Helen has for many years helped her clients navigate the complex issues around industrial relations, from the cut and thrust of strike action and ballots to contingency planning and reputation management as well as working in helping companies to create and/or work pro-actively in partnership with both employee forums and trade union representative.

What our clients say

“Helen is very practical and easy to get on with. She has provided sound advice over a number of years.”

Chambers 2024

“Helen Beech is a top-class employment lawyer. Always available, always on top of the issues. We have used her for some of our most difficult situations and she always leads an efficient and committed team”

Legal 500 2024

“Helen is always extremely helpful and knowledgeable.”

Chambers 2024

“Monica Atwal and Helen Beech are both outstanding. Their significant legal knowledge across all areas of employment law and years of practical experience within the employment tribunal system puts them amongst the best instructing solicitors I have worked with.”

Legal 500 2024

“Helen is very responsive and very adaptable. She is  strong commercially and will deliver the news in the right manner”

Chambers and Partners 2025

“Helen has a lot of experience and knowledge. She explains technical issues very well and is always looking for solutions to make situations work for the situation”

Chambers and Partners 2025

“Helen is great technically and brilliant in a crisis. She is a knowledgeable person in a really complex area.”

Chambers and Partners 2025

‘Consistently outstanding service from Helen Beech and the employment law team. She is extremely responsive, has a deep understanding of our business, and offers highly effective, pragmatic solutions.’

Legal 500 2025

“Consistently outstanding service from Helen Beech and the employment law team. She is extremely responsive, has a deep understanding of our business, and offers highly effective, pragmatic solutions.”

Legal 500 2025

“Helen Beech leads an excellent team. She is reactive, technically excellent and committed.”

Legal 500 2025

Read, listen and watch our latest insights

art
  • 17 December 2020
  • Employment

No more non-compete clauses?

This month, the BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) opened their consultation on reforming employment contract non-compete clauses. Back in 2016, there was a close to universal consensus amongst employers that restrictive covenants are a valuable instrument for those seeking to protect their business interests. At the same time, their perceived impact on an ex-employee’s ability to find new work was deemed insignificant, or not unfair.

Pub
  • 14 December 2020
  • Employment

Effect of Brexit on Employment Law

Deborah Scales discusses the implications Brexit will have on UK employment law, and covers key points for employers for either a deal or “no deal” Brexit. Deborah also covers the immigration law for businesses employing from the EU. 

Pub
  • 10 December 2020
  • Employment

Bribery Act & Corporate Christmas Gifts

Deborah Scales Employment Associate at Clarkslegal discusses some special considerations employers might need to give to the Bribery Act 2010 and receiving corporate Christmas gifts.

art
  • 10 December 2020
  • Employment

Employee unlawfully harassed on WhatsApp

The Employment Tribunal has issued a timely reminder to employers of the dangers of social media in the workplace, after finding in Abdi v Deltec International Courier Ltd that the employee had been harassed by her colleagues via WhatsApp.

art
  • 04 December 2020
  • Employment

The rules on Acas Early Conciliation (EC) changed

The standard EC period is now 6 weeks rather than a month (but there is no longer the possibility of extending it by 2 weeks). Although this may appear to give people…

art
  • 04 December 2020
  • Employment

Vicarious liability for remote Christmas parties

Festivities will be very different this year. Despite exiting a national Lockdown this week, 98.7% of the population in England find themselves in tiers 2 or 3 in the run up to Christmas.