Florence Brocklesby

Principal

Florence is the founder of Bellevue Law, and specialises in litigation, dispute resolution and employment law.

Florence trained and qualified, in 2000, at leading international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she worked for eight years, including time in the firm’s London, Brussels and Hong Kong offices, before moving to the London office of the US firm Debevoise & Plimpton prior to founding Bellevue Law in 2014.

Florence handles both commercial disputes and employment law matters and she advises a range of clients including individual employees, founders and entrepreneurs and owner-managed, fast-growth and long-established businesses. Many of her clients are fellow lawyers and law firms.

Florence is recommended in the current editions of both the Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 directories. She is ranked as a leading individual in Chambers & Partners 2022, where client feedback states: "She gives excellent advice. She is very good at extracting the useful parts of the story, assessing the situation and giving a correct assessment of the pros and cons" and "She has confidence and an empathetic nature and, at the same time, she is pragmatic and clear."

In Chambers & Partners 2021 clients stated: "She has great experience and is great to work with" and "She has excellent attention to detail, good commercial sense and is very pragmatic. She always wants to go the extra mile for her client."

She is also ranked as a leading individual in the Legal 500 2022, which describes her as being "extremely diligent and fiercely bright", "an outstanding individual" and "lauded for providing 'astute' advice on the gamut of discrimination claims and negotiated exits."

In the Legal 500 2021, clients described Florence as "full of energy and unflappable", "demonstrat[ing] a real sense of judgement in identifying issues and dealing with them pragmatically such that most of her focus was on the real deal killers. Superb articulation and summary to me of the risk factors" and "excellent, very understanding and her advice is outstanding. Very strategic approach and very strong experience advising employees in finance."

Both directories recognise Florence’s experience in the financial and professional services sectors, and advising on discrimination claims.

"In my 25 years of experience, the most operational employment attorney I have worked with. Period."

"Florence had been such a calming, wonderful person to work with. She sincerely fought for my case and I had 100% trust in her, her team, and that I received the best possible results considering how difficult the nature of my case was." – Legal 500 2022

Florence regularly acts for owner-managed and fast-growth businesses, particularly in the tech and luxury sectors, on their employment law matters and commercial disputes. She often advises on the crucial decisions that determine the future of a growing business, including supporting new founders in exiting their previous roles, managing restructuring processes, senior executive exits and shareholder disputes. As an entrepreneur herself, Florence enjoys the fast-paced nature of these clients' businesses and is able to give insightful and practical advice based on her professional and personal experience.

She also regularly acts for senior professional women in defending their workplace rights, including in sex and maternity discrimination claims, and cases of sexual harassment or assault. She is regularly referred work in this field by previous clients, who value her experience and understanding of these issues, and empathetic approach.

"My experience working with Florence was wonderful! She was patient and spent a lot of time explaining my options. I never felt rushed or pressured to make a decision. She had empathy and compassion as this was not a pleasant situation and it was nice to feel she understood it from a human perspective. I felt the service I received top notch and the fees were very fair."

"Florence’s service was impeccable! Advice was pragmatic and clear. Very happy with her, would always recommend her!" – Legal 500 2022

While her focus is on achieving commercial resolution of contentious issues where possible, Florence is an experienced litigator, who has acted in numerous Employment Tribunal, Court and arbitration proceedings. She is also experienced in alternative dispute resolution and has represented several clients in successful mediation of their commercial disputes.

Representative recent matters include:

Acting as a trusted adviser to numerous businesses and their founders on both day to day and business critical matters including investigations, disciplinary processes, negotiated exits - including of senior executives, directors and shareholders - and commercial disputes with third parties.

Regularly advising executives at the most senior levels on negotiated exits, including recently the longstanding chief executive of a major media company, the chief executive of a UK-wide hotel group and the managing director of a national restaurant chain.

Successfully negotiating numerous settlements of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination claims on behalf of employees in the legal, professional and financial services sectors, particularly for senior professional women. Recent clients include:

An investment banker complaining of being sidelined and bullied on her return from maternity leave.
A senior manager at a major accounting firm following allegations of bullying by an equity partner.
The sole female board member of an international telecommunications business.
An investment banker made redundant while on maternity leave amidst allegations that her employer had failed to comply with its obligation to offer her an available suitable alternative vacancy.
A senior sales executive alleged to have been seriously assaulted by her manager.

Advising a number of tech companies on major redundancy processes, including, in one case, the departure of the client’s founder.

Advising and representing a luxury goods business in an international contractual dispute involving proceedings in both London and Hong Kong.

Regularly advising senior employees and LLP members on the terms of proposed new contracts and on their pre- and post-termination rights and obligations to their current employers.

Advising a number of law firms on critical employment law issues including in the context of serious criminal and regulatory issues.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, regularly advising both businesses and employees on the legal implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, including furlough, role adjustments and home-working and redundancies, and the impact of the pandemic on parties’ commercial contractual rights and obligations.

In addition to her legal practice, Florence has taught contract law, tort and civil and commercial litigation at graduate level. She is committed to pro bono work, having served as a trustee of both the Royal Courts of Justice Citizens Advice Bureau and South West London Law Centres, and previously acted for clients facing the death penalty in the Caribbean and USA. She is also a committed supporter of both ethical business practices and the local business and charity community around Bellevue Law’s Wandsworth base.

"You have been such a calming, wonderful person to work with. I've really appreciated your insights and advice, and am glad that we've been able to come out with good results."

BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics

University of Oxford

Graduate Diploma in Law; Legal Practice Course (Law Society Prize)

University of Birmingham

Postgraduate Diploma in International Law

University of Bristol

Legal Disputes

Employment Law