Karen Jackson
Managing Partner

Karen Jackson, a solicitor and Notary Public is the force behind didlaw. Karen graduated from University College London in 1989 with a First and worked in the City for Arthur Andersen, J P Morgan and finally at Union Bank of Switzerland as a futures broker. After 7 years of non-stop stress on the trading floor she graduated law school with a Distinction and trained as a solicitor at Mishcon de Reya in London.

Karen then became Head of Legal UK and Eire for the cosmetics giant L'Oreal, where most of her work focussed on employment. Karen founded didlaw following successful heart transplantation surgery at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge in 2006. She is highly attuned to the issues around illness and disability in the workplace although her experience was more positive than most. She enjoys putting her technical and people skills to good use.

Karen says: “I'm passionate about didlaw. The best thing about my job is the satisfaction of helping people and businesses through difficult times. I like using my energy to manage tricky situations, which are really stressful and time consuming, achieving a positive outcome.”

Karen loves long walks with her dogs, swimming, opera, baking and her Texan husband's fantastic food. She has appeared in The Guardian, Red and Prima magazines to talk about her experience of transplantation and also on the Charlie Crocker Show on BBC Radio Solent, as well as being widely featured in the press in relation to her work at didlaw. Read more on our press page.

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For obvious reasons she is an ardent promoter of the Organ Donor Register. Please read below for further information:

Emily Yeardley
Assistant Solicitor

Emily obtained a First class degree in Law and Criminology at the University of Portsmouth where she graduated top of her class. She then undertook a training contract at didlaw under the supervision of Karen Jackson. In the second year of her training Emily was seconded to a High Street firm in Hampshire in order to do the other seats required by her training contract. On qualification Emily joined another regional firm near Southampton where she did general employment work and built up the practice for the firm.

Emily advises on all aspects of employment law with a particular focus on contracts and policies. She also specialises in redundancy. Other areas of special interest for Emily include her first love, disability discrimination, and other forms of discrimination particularly pregnancy, maternity and sex discrimination, age discrimination and whistle blowing.

Emily is a keen networker and advocate for didlaw. She contributes to the didlaw blog to keep clients updated on developments in the law as and when they happen. She is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association and the Discrimination Law Association.

When she’s not at work Emily will be found body pumping in the gym, up a ladder decorating her new house or in a bar sinking gin and tonics. Truly a people person, Emily treats her clients with compassion and empathy whilst being at the same time ruthlessly efficient.

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