CHRIS MADDOCK Partner and Head of Employment team at Muckle LLP.
Chris Maddock has reached the top of his profession and is ranked as one of the leading employment lawyers in the North East. Since joining the commercial law firm Muckle LLP 17 years ago, Chris has progressed from associate solicitor to head of Employment Team and is now an equity partner at the Newcastlebased legal business. Chris grew up in Neath, South Wales, and had a particular interest in French and German at school. Not knowing what to do at university, but knowing he wanted not to just do languages, Chris enrolled on a Law with French degree at the University of Birmingham, spending a year studying law in France as part of his studies. While training at a Birmingham law firm after graduating, Chris admits to falling into love with the specialism.
“I found a real fondness for dealing with real people and real issues. In employment law there is often no absolutely right or wrong approach and I enjoyed figuring out which route to take based on understanding clients’ motivations and the risks associated with each option.”
During his extensive career Chris has looked after clients including international automotive manufacturers and an array of household brands. It was while working with a successful employment team in Milton Keynes that the well-travelled Chris met his wife Penny, a physiotherapist from Morpeth and they began to think about moving North. Chris said: “It was in the wake of 9/11 and I vividly remember walking on the beach on a visit to Wales and discussing where we wanted to put down real roots. I’d had a very intense two or three months and there was huge pressure.
“Just days after 9/11, I turned 30 and ended up working on my birthday until 4am. My wife had booked a surprise lunch and theatre visit to London for the next day.
“I slept through our lunch appointment, but we made it to the theatre amid all the extra security measures in place. That weekend made us realise that living and working nearer to one of our hometowns would be better for raising a family.
“Moving to Newcastle was an easy decision and the best move I ever made. I now couldn’t imagine working anywhere else. I love the region and Muckle is a very forward-thinking business led by a quietly inspirational Managing Partner in Jason Wainwright.”
Chris now leads an 11-strong team of employment lawyers at Muckle. Their key clients include NCG, one of the UK’s largest college groups, Newcastle Building Society and the FA. While he has enjoyed great success since joining the leading North East law firm for businesses, there have been many challenging times for employers where Chris and his team’s advice has been invaluable.
“Advising on employment matters can be 60% about the legislation and 40% about communication and psychology. There have been many challenges along the way, from the collapse of Northern Rock, when I first became a partner, to dealing with the current pandemic.
“The last year has been an incredibly busy time for our team. We’ve often needed to react to Government announcements, frequently made at the end of busy working weeks on Friday and Saturday nights.
“There was that crazy period just before the first lockdown when it seemed like we were going into meltdown, and I can remember imploring a client not to start a process to make 450 people redundant because it was clear something had to give and rumours were circulating of imminent Government announcements.
“By the time I got back home from that meeting, the Government had announced the furlough scheme and the client rang me as I sat in the car on my drive. We both started to cry as we were so overcome with relief!” COVID-19 and Brexit have undoubtedly led to one of the most challenging and busiest periods Chris and the team have seen, yet they are still making time to help others. Chris said: “As a team we usually email out a Christmas newsletter which takes some time to produce, but has become a bit of a tradition. It’s a themed light-hearted look at the previous 12 months and forward to what might happen in the future. But that just didn’t seem right this Christmas and we wanted to do something more tangible to help.
“So instead we emailed all of our clients and contacts and asked them to nominate a charity which was important to them and would benefit from some free employment support on a project during 2021.
“The idea came from me having volunteered a day at Eden Valley Hospital in Carlisle a few years ago when I provided a day of employment advice and training. I also saw the amazing work that they did. It was humbling and so rewarding, easily the most fulfilling working day I’ve ever had.
“Many charities have been hugely impacted by the pandemic. As Muckle gives each employee two days’ volunteering leave per year, and while fitting that in is never easy, each member of our team agreed to commit to using at least one of those days to support a local charity in need. It became our Christmas Pledge. “We’ve had a fantastic response and have now selected 12 charities where we think we can make a real difference as they have limited HR capability and the support that we will be able to provide will really help them move forward.
“They’ve asked us to help with contract and employment policy development, training and strategic initiatives and we are all really looking forward to it. In some small way we hope it can help us all return to some normality in 2021.”
