Nicola Rabson

Nicola is a senior partner, with significant experience across the breadth of employment law and is well-known in the market for advising clients on their most challenging, reputationally sensitive and high-stakes people-related matters.
Nicola frequently advises clients on their strategic projects, investigations, and reviews, such as those relating to conduct, governance, workplace culture, and mandates involving the board and senior leadership. She is a solutions-focused and strategic adviser who works with clients to ensure the best outcome is reached in the circumstances.

She tackles the most complex of employment litigation and advice, with extensive experience of High Court and Tribunal litigation. In addition, Nicola advises her clients on crisis management, the employment aspects of purchases, related hirings, executive terminations and appointments, restrictive covenants and team moves, as well as managing large global projects in relation to redundancies, compensation reviews and the employment aspects of regulatory investigations.

She is also a frequent speaker and commentator on employment issues with a particular interest in whistleblowing, workplace equality and workplace corporate culture. Nicola is also a CEDR accredited mediator and is a non executive director on two listed companies. The nature of Nicola’s practice and the sensitive nature of her work means that we cannot publicly share the work she does.

Work highlights

Nicola’s work highlights include:

• Advising a FTSE company on lawfully hiring a team for its new business arm and providing strategic advice and related contractual terms
• Advising a whistleblowers champion (a Chair) on an investigation into allegations of bullying of a board member including looking at grievances from multiple employees and allegations of sexual harassment
• Advising a large fund on the departure of its leading fund manager
• Advising a large private equity house on the departure of a senior executive and defending an application to the court for declaratory relief and speedy trial
• Representing Commerzbank AG on the bonus litigation brought against the bank by 104 ex-Dresdner Kleinwort bankers
• Advising a global bank on a high value whistleblowing claim which was brought against them, where witnesses involved numerous board members
• Advising a large bank on an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of a senior director. Nicola led the investigation on behalf of the bank, advising on strategy, recommendations and management of next steps
• Leading the firm’s team acting pro-bono in the case of whistleblowing Dr Kevin Beatt against Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, for which Nicola was identified as “Lawyer of the Week” by The Times
• A data center business on an investigation into romantic relationship between senior and junior employees and allegations of blackmail
• An internet provider on to allegations, by numerous employees, including the CEO, of inappropriate conduct by the executive Chairman of the Board as an impartial investigator
• A leading financial entity on a complex and sensitive fact-finding investigation following a grievance raising serious allegations concerning the management style and behaviour of the CEO, including allegations of bullying and highly intimidating behaviour
• A British retailer on an external investigation into matters relating to the allegations against a senior individual and to appoint and support an independent external counsel team to undertake the investigation

With finger on the cultural and societal pulse of the workplace and decades of experience advising large private and listed organisations, Nicola has a keen interest in the future of work and is a trusted advisor to many as the zeitgeist on workplace culture and conduct continues to shift. In 2015, Nicola spearheaded Linklaters’ ‘listen up’ campaign aiming to re-focus the corporate world’s whistleblowing discussion on internal behaviours and responses to whistleblowing. She was awarded Times Lawyer of the Week for her work in this area.

In recent years, Nicola has been at the forefront of advising businesses on workplace culture, diversity and inclusion, and workplace activism. In 2017 Nicola was the vanguard advising businesses on workplace culture following the MeToo movement and led the firm’s Culture Conference for businesses. She is a frequent speaker and commentator on these issues and is well-known in the market for her expertise in these areas.

Having been the Global Head of the Employment & Incentives practice and a Partner at Linklaters for over 25 years, Nicola has extensive experience managing her own business and advising stakeholders and peers in a variety of roles.

She is also a CEDR accredited mediator and is experienced in arbitration, mediation and negotiation, alongside her external portfolio of board roles: equipping Nicola with a unique skill-set which she brings to her mandates, and differentiate her from market peers.