For senior people, the settlement agreement is the end of the process, not the process itself. The real work happens before it: the negotiation of what the agreement will say — notice value, bonus, vesting timing, covenants, the narrative — conducted while leverage is intact and conducted quietly, because senior careers are small worlds. Employers budget for well-advised senior exits; arriving without advice doesn’t read as loyalty, it reads as an opportunity.
The Levers, Named
The recurring set, worked case by case. Notice and its full value: salary, benefits and pension contributions through the contractual period — paid, worked, or garden-leaved, each with different worth to you. Bonus and commission: the earned-versus-discretionary battle, pro-rating for the exit year, and amounts crystallising after departure — contract language decides more than sentiment here, which is why the contract is read first. Equity timing: where options and awards vest on dates, the termination date’s position against those dates is negotiable — and can matter more than headline cash. Covenants: restated or newly demanded restraints narrowed or priced — fresh restrictions on your future earning are consideration to be paid for, never boilerplate to swallow. The exit narrative: agreed references and announcements, board resignations and minutes handled cleanly — because half of executive exit value is reputational. And the waiver’s price itself, informed by whatever claims the process created. The whole is sequenced with your accountant on the tax question before anything is signed — structure affects what an exit is worth, and that question belongs with the right professional at the right moment.
Discretion, Timing — and Why Credible Advice Changes the Maths
Discretion is designed in: strategy from this side with you fronting conversations on coaching, or solicitor-to-solicitor where formality serves; the without-prejudice framework used properly so exploratory positions never become exhibits; and the endgame documented so the agreed narrative is what your network receives — from outside, nothing but a smooth transition. Timing is leverage: the right moment for advice is the first signal — the “chat” invitation, the restructure that orphans your role — before anything is said, signed or resigned; executives who arrive after verbal agreements have spent leverage that quiet early advice preserves. And credibility changes the employer’s arithmetic: exit pricing is risk pricing, and a counterparty advised by a practice that also runs employment litigation — including the urgent-remedies end of it — is priced differently, without a single threat being made. The engagement itself is bounded: typically a day or two of concentrated work, fees agreed in writing before it begins, the enhanced contribution customary at this tier sought as standard. The first conversation is confidential, and early.
The Signals Have Started?
Then the conversation should too - confidential, early, before anything is said in the room. What the exit is worth is decided now, not at the signature.
Call 01 5827148