Alison Wetherfield is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP, based in its London office.  She is head of the London office Employment Group, where her practice focuses on employment and labor law in the UK.

Alison is named as a leader in her field (Band 1) in Chambers UK 2010 ('an accomplished litigator, winning plaudits as the "hardest fighter in the field"').  She is also rated as a leader in her field in both Legal Experts 2009 and the Legal 500 2009 (quoted as "fantastic").

Alison is an experienced advocate in the English High Court and employment tribunals and her practice also includes all aspects of non-contentious advisory work in the employment and labor law fields.  Her clients include investment banks, construction companies and professional service providers.  She has particular expertise in discrimination matters, having litigated discrimination cases for companies and individuals in both the UK and US (Title VII).

Alison regularly speaks and writes on employment law issues and has taught employment law-related courses in the past on an adjunct basis at New York University and as a Visiting Professor and researcher at Tokyo University, Japan.  She is a member of the European Employment Lawyers’ Association and has served as chair of the UK Employment Lawyers’ Association Legislative and Policy sub-committee on data protection, which has commented on all recent data protection initiatives in the UK. 

Alison’s recent speeches and articles include “Harassment on Grounds of Sex and Race - The United Kingdom Approach”, for The Japanese Journal of Labour Studies, February 2008; co-authoring “Cross Border Data Protection Policies for Employers”, for PLC Cross-Border Labor and Employee Benefits Hand Book 2005-2006; and “Avoiding discrimination and harassment claims” Legal Risk Management Manual PLC 2005.

Representative Experience

• High Court litigation and successful mediator of multi-million pound discrimination claims (including personal injury elements)
• Advising Remuneration Committees PLC's on executive director contracts
• Pan-European data protection advice for a number of multinationals
• Expert in complex tribunal claims, including mediation and other settlement strategies (recent high profile whistleblowing, health and safety and sexual orientation discrimination claims successfully resolved for several clients)

Practices & Industries

• Electronic Data Management, Privacy & Discovery
• Employee Benefits & Pensions
• Employment - London
• Labor & Employment
• Litigation - London
• London
• Privacy and Identity Theft Issues

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