People /

Lisa Mayhew

Partner and Chair Emeritus

London

People /

Lisa Mayhew

Partner and Chair Emeritus

London

Lisa Mayhew

Partner and Chair Emeritus

London

T: +44 (0) 20 3400 4628

M: +44 (0) 7738 037352

English

Biography
Experience

Biography

Lisa Mayhew was Firmwide Managing Partner of Berwin Leighton Paisner for 3 years, before becoming Global Co-Chair of the Firm for 6 years following its merger with Bryan Cave to form BCLP in 2018. Lisa stepped down from her Firmwide leadership role on 1 January 2024 after her second and final term. She remains a Partner at BCLP and leads its client Crisis Management offering as well as working as a qualified leadership coach in the Partnership. Lisa is also an Independent Director on the Board of the largest regulator of legal services in England and Wales, the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

Lisa is named as one of only two 'eminent practitioners' in employment law in the UK’s Chambers & Partners directory. She is known for defending employers in large and complex employment disputes, including successfully representing Merrill Lynch in the UK’s highest value gender discrimination and equal pay claim.

A regular guest speaker at industry events and author of multiple published articles in distinguished publications, Lisa also co-wrote a book published by Sweet & Maxwell on “Discrimination: Remedies and Quantum”

Employment law practice

Lisa's practice focusses on employment law. Lisa is known for successfully defending employers in large and complex employment disputes. Her work has typically been at Boardroom level, for example acting on executive hires and severances, discrimination proceedings, cases of whistleblowing, or on major corporate transformation initiatives. Work of this nature is always highly sensitive, has significant reputational ramifications and typically involves substantial, 7-figure sums.

Employment law practice

While keeping clients out of court is often the first priority, Lisa has represented clients in the High Court or at Employment Tribunals over 50 times. In all cases, Lisa has focused not just on winning, but in achieving the right outcomes for the client and protecting their reputation, based upon an appreciation of the publicity and regulatory aspects of each case.

Lisa has represented clients in the High Court or at Employment Tribunals over 50 times.

$14m

Successfully represented Merrill Lynch on a $14million equal pay and discrimination claim brought by employee Stephanie Villalba.

Lisa’s clients have included eight of the world’s largest banks

Lisa’s clients have included eight of the world’s largest banks plus other FTSE-level or large private companies in sectors such as retail and energy. Lisa completed in-house secondments at Merrill Lynch and John Lewis Partnership.

Admissions

England and Wales

Related Practice Areas

Healthcare & Life Sciences
Insurance Regulatory
Insurance: Corporate & Transactional
Insurance Insolvency & Receiverships
Captive Insurance
InsureTech
Insurance (Class Actions)
Insurance

Experience

Hiring and exiting of senior management - Acted for a FTSE-100 company on the hiring and exiting of senior management staff in the UK and internationally, and on an alleged claim of discrimination by a regional manager. The 7-figure claim, which we successfully defended, was particularly interesting given that we proved covertly recorded staff conversations had been doctored.
New employment regulations on holiday pay - Advising a major corporation, with many thousands of employees, on the significant implications - financially running to tens of millions of pounds - and related future recommended provisions associated with the introduction of new employment regulations on holiday pay.
Employee compliance and termination best-practices - As an example of advisory work, advised a real estate company on a range of employee compliance and termination best-practices in 10 countries. The recommendations, developed following a review of case law in each jurisdiction, were delivered for the Board against tight deadlines.
Discrimination - Successfully defended a FTSE 250 financial institution on an alleged disability claim. We proved that our client had met its obligation to create a level playing field for all employees, to the extent that the claim was abandoned prior to hearing. The case was legally important since it sought to expand employers’ obligations to positively discriminate in favour of disabled employees.
Equal pay discrimination - Successfully represented Merrill Lynch on a $14million equal pay and discrimination claim brought by employee Stephanie Villalba. The case, which was covered extensively by the UK and international media, remains one of the highest value discrimination claims ever to have been brought to court in the UK.
Unfair dismissal - Successfully represented a global bank against a claim of unfair dismissal by a senior employee, a claim complicated by disputes over share entitlement.