Chris Seaton Senior Partner

Chris is the firm's Senior Partner and joined Burges Salmon in 1991 having previously served as an officer in the Royal Navy for 11 years.

As Senior Partner Chris chair’s the firm’s Partnership Committee, which is responsible for the strategic direction of the firm.

Chris was until May 2017 the firm’s Head of International and has been on the firm’s Partnership Committee since 2011.

Chris deals with a full range of contentious and non-contentious employment work, advising employers and employees in both public and private sectors on the complete range of employment issues.

Chris acts for a large number of multinational clients and coordinates employment advice across a wide range of jurisdictions. In particular:

• setting up European Works Councils and National Works Councils
• cross-border transfer of employees and TUPE considerations
• restructuring and plant closure across different jurisdictions
• harmonisation of terms and conditions across different jurisdictions
• tribunal advocacy and mediation
• advising boards of FTSE 100 companies on executive/reputational issues
• advising partnerships, LLPs and partners/members in relation to exits and changes to partnership and LLP agreements.

Chris is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and provides training on employment law issues for clients and professional bodies. He has also been recognised as a leading practitioner in both Chambers UK and Legal 500 for many years.

• Advising Babcock International Group plc in relation to a class TUPE action involving 690 claimants.
• Co-ordinating employment, restructuring and TUPE advice to Wex Inc. following the acquisition of Esso Fuel cards across nine European jurisdictions.
• Provision and co-ordination of international employment advice to John Lewis Partnership.
• Advising Bank of Ireland in relation to the adoption of the Senior Managers Regime.
• Advising Thomson Reuters in relation to a review of their European Works Council.