Tim is an employment partner with over 19 years' experience. He qualified as a pensions, employee tax and share incentives lawyer at Allen & Overy in London and then worked in the City between 1993 and 1997 before moving to Bristol to focus on employment work. 

He has a wide range of commercial experience, including transactional, strategic and day-to-day human resources support. He has advised on a number of major M&A and PE deals, outsourcing, reorganisation and redundancy projects in a number of different industry sectors.

Tim has also advised on a significant number of PPP/PFI projects in the health, education, leisure and waste sectors.

Tim also has significant industrial relations and disputes experience. He regularly advises on union and collective consultation, including strike action, recognition issues and constitutional matters. He is an adviser to Post Office on employment and IR issues.

Tim advises on board disputes, business protection actions and high value/sensitive discrimination matters. He regularly speaks on employment law issues at our employment club sessions and has provided speaking slots at a number of external conferences.

Tim also contributed a column to FM World and edited the employment law chapter in the Jordans Company Administration and Governance looseleaf textbook.

Experience

Examples of experience include advising:

  • Complex TUPE transfer situations, including major projects, procurement exercises, mergers, acquisitions and investments. Tim has advised major employers in this area, including Post OfficeEnglish HeritageTSBDevon Partnership NHS Trust and Piper Private Equity. Tim recently advised English Heritage on the TUPE aspects of its de-merger
  • Handling complex and large-scale tribunal litigation. Tim has advised on large, complex discrimination cases and also managed a team handling tribunal litigation for TSB, AIG, Plymouth Community Homes and many others.
  • Employers and senior employees on exit and board level disputes. He has advised on dismissals of Directors and CEOs in a range of sectors and also directors and other senior employee owners on exiting a business
  • Major restructuring and redundancy projects. Tim has advised ST Microelectronics, EEJohn Laing and others on significant restructuring programmes. This includes advising on collective consultation aspects, redundancy dismissals.

" Highly efficient and commercial." 

"Tim Woodward is known for his ‘expert knowledge of employment law’, as well as his ‘assertive and robust negotiating style’."

"Tim Woodward has a wide range of experience in employment law. Peers rate him as being a ‘very sensible’ lawyer who ‘works hard for his clients’."

"Tim Woodward remains a broadly admired figure in the Bristol employment market, noted by sources as ‘receptive, a good listener, and strong at building up a level of trust with his clients’.  

Chambers Guide