SWAN CRAIG

About Us

About
Kirsty Swan

Kirsty founded the firm in 2016. She is a solicitor with over 18 years of experience providing practical and understandable legal advice on all areas of employment law. Kirsty helps both employers and employees with workplace matters. She also regularly advises on commercial law and consumer law matters and has vast experience in drafting legal documents and contracts from settlement agreements, employment contracts/ service agreements (including restrictive covenants), staff handbooks through to terms of business, shareholders agreements, non-disclosure agreements and more. Kirsty has represented hundreds of clients over the years and regularly appeared in the Employment Tribunal and has vast advocacy experience.

Watch Kirsty Swan, Principal Solicitor
(and founder) explain who
Swan Craig Solicitors are.

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Our Clients

Watch the Kirsty
Swan BBC Interview

We discuss the impact of COVID-19 on
businesses and employees.

Achievements

Our achievements speak volumes about our commitment to excellence and client satisfaction.
They serve as a testament to our outstanding legal expertise and the exceptional results we consistently achieve for our clients.

Awards

Certifications

We Are The Right Firm

When it comes to selecting the right firm, Swan Craig Solicitors stands out as the premier choice. With some of our solicitors having over 18 years of experience in the legal industry, our firm has built a solid reputation for excellence and a track record of success. Choosing Swan Craig Solicitors means choosing a partner who will fiercely advocate for your rights and tirelessly work towards a favourable resolution.

Swan Craig Solicitors are an employment law solicitors firm (as employment law specialists). However, we also advise on a range of commercial law and contract law. What does this mean? We help people with legal problems at work to seek to resolve them. We also help with contracts, which could be terms of business for a company, querying a service or product you have purchased or dealing with issues over payment of fees/charges.

We believe in building strong relationships with our clients and taking the time to understand their unique needs and goals. Our client-centric approach allows us to deliver exceptional results and achieve the best possible outcomes.
We recognise that every employment matter is unique, whether business or individual. That’s why we provide personalised solutions that are tailored to your specific circumstances. Our solicitors will work closely with you to develop strategies that align with your goals and protect your rights.
When looking to find a solicitor, you want someone to provide practical and understandable advice. It goes without saying, someone who knows their specialism inside and out, that is us.

Explore Our Services

Our achievements speak volumes about our commitment to excellence and client satisfaction.
They serve as a testament to our outstanding legal expertise and the exceptional results we consistently achieve for our clients.

Our
Expert Team

Our expert team is comprised of highly skilled professionals who bring extensive knowledge and experience to every client engagement. With their expertise and dedication, we deliver exceptional results and provide the highest level of service to meet your legal needs.

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Kirsty Swan

Principal Solicitor and founder

Linda

Linda Wakeford

Office Manager

Danielle_1 (1)

Danielle Brown

Non-Executive Director

Frequently Asked Questions

There are some questions that get asked time and again when considering using a solicitor.  Our employment and commercial FAQs may assist you.

If you find that you’re still searching for an answer, we are ready and waiting to hear from you. Please either check out our employment law and commercial law services or contact us directly by telephone, email or our contact form.

Sometimes you’re after a quick answer rather than spending hours researching the question yourself. By using a solicitor, you have access to the equivalent of an in-house legal department that can advise you on all areas of employment law (and commercial law). Furthermore, you are going directly to the people you need. There are a number of HR and legal support services out there that are not legally qualified but provide ‘legal’ advice. Even they end up coming to us to check what they are advising is correct. You can pass the middle person and instruct us directly. Importantly to protect your business, by using a solicitor, you benefit from Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) on all correspondence and communication between you and your professional. LPP only applies to advice from legally qualified lawyers (i.e. solicitors and barristers) and means the advice we give you is not disclosable to an employee or in legal proceedings. You are using an expert in the law who has spent years of training and has years of experience in putting it into practice (and standing before judges to know how the courts and tribunals apply the law in practice).

We provide a range of services to suit your budget, ranging from hourly rates (£250 p/h plus VAT) to fixed fee or retainer services. Our retainer services price varies subject to the size of the business/number of employees. We also offer discounts on referral services for our retainer. Our retainer services include telephone and email advice, newsletters with updates in the law, discounts on fees, contract/handbook reviews*, settlement agreement assistance* and in-house seminars* to name some of the benefits (* subject to retainer package taken). Please see our Annual Membership for more information or Contact us for further details.

We expect whatever it is you have visited our webpage for, we can assist with it if covers employment law or commercial law matters (such as contracts, shareholders agreements, directors’ queries, terms of service etc). With our employment law services in a nutshell, if you require HR services, we can accommodate it. This ranges from day-to-day employment matters such as disciplinaries, grievances, and sickness absence to more complex issues such as TUPE transfers, data protection and redundancies. We also cover a range of commercial and corporate services from reviewing terms of business to debt chasing and collection services and advising on Director and Partnership matters. Plus if you do not see it listed, contact us as it is likely we can accommodate you; there is only so much that can be written on a webpage.

Settlement agreements (which used to be called Compromise Agreements) can be offered by either the employer, or the employee can ask for one. It is a contract which usually gives a financial package in exchange for the employee leaving their employment and not pursuing any grievance, subject access request, or claim against their employer. When being given a settlement agreement (the actual full terms), employees should be given 10 calendar days to make their decision on it (accept it, reject it or start to negotiate on the terms).

Employees who have two or more consecutive years service with their employer should not be dismissed without a fair reason and a fair procedure being followed. The main categories to show a fair reason for dismissal are conduct, performance, capability, redundancy, business reorganisation or some other substantial reason. However, just because an employer has a fair reason, they still need to go through a procedure, such as a disciplinary hearing, or performance management process. Employees with less than two years of service can risk being dismissed without a fair reason or fair procedure. Unless the reason for dismissal is an automatic one, they will not be able to claim ordinary unfair dismissal. Discrimination may or may not come into play so contact us to discuss further.

If you want assistance with a letter to send to your employer drafted from you, or to be sent by us, we can provide this service for a fixed fee so contact us for a quote. For example, if you have a grievance and want to make a complaint, we would draft the letter and following receipt of the grievance outcome, we would advise on its contents and your next steps; in this example, the next steps would usually be to lodge an appeal. We can provide this ongoing service for a further fixed fee for the next stage letter but given the next steps could then result in multiple letters/correspondence, it may be worthwhile considering instructing us using our other fee options instead.

If you have taken the step to ask for legal advice, chances are your employer has done something wrong. Whilst we don’t provide free advice and we cannot advise you if you are not a client with us, we offer a fixed fee for initial consultations to discuss your matter and advise you on your legal position and various options for the next steps. Please see our initial advice fee options.

Our Clients

Our Clients Say

"I have used Swan Craig's services for a number of years now. Kirsty Swan is the optima of professionalism. I have received excellent legal advice in a number of different legal areas. Kirsty has saved me time, money and above all, has enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of my business operations."

Tristan Newman Bristol Marketing Company

Kirsty has been fantastic every time I speak with her about any matters, the knowledge Kirsty has helped me save hundreds of pounds so far and has protected me with potential costs in the future.

Martin Strong Strong Mortgage Solutions

“At a time of great employment stress, Kirsty brought calm and reason to manage a positive outcome. One hopes never to have to need the services of an employment lawyer but when you, Kirsty should be at the top of your list.”

Howard Swift Client

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    Take a helpful hand!

    We have 18 years of experience providing legal employment and commercial law advice for various matters and industries.

    MAIN OFFICE

    St Brandon’s House, 29 Great George Street, Bristol, BS1 5QT

    MEETINGS ALSO AVAILABLE AT

    Trym Lodge, 1 Henbury Road, Bristol, BS9 3HQ

    VIDEO APPOINTMENT

    We hold online appointments booked via email or by calling us.

    TELEPHONE

    01179 200128

    WORKING HOURS

    Mon-Thur: 9am – 5:30pm, Fri: 9am - 5pm

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    Kirsty Swan

    Principal Solicitor and Founder

    Kirsty founded the firm and is a solicitor with 16 years of experience. She provides practical and understandable legal advice on all areas of employment law and commercial law. Kirsty’s main specialism is employment law which and both employers and employees with workplace matters.

    Linda Wakeford

    Office Manager

    Linda keeps Swan Craig on track with all aspects of the management of the firm and bookkeeping. Prior to that Linda spent several years as a senior Legal Secretary and understands the needs of a busy solicitor’s office.

    Outside of the office, Linda enjoys spending time walking her dog Louis.

    Danielle Brown

    Non-Executive Director

    Danielle’s background provides us with a commercially focused senior finance leader. She builds strong working relationships with an ability to influence senior stakeholders, continually deliver on commitments and exceed expectations. Danielle is passionate about effective management of change, and the value it can deliver. commitments and exceed expectations. Danielle is passionate about effective management of change, and the value it can deliver,.