Careful planning and expert legal advice are essential to ensure your employee share scheme aligns with your company’s commercial objectives, adapts to future changes in the business and workforce, maximises available tax efficiencies and reliefs, minimises tax risks and safeguards the company and its shareholders.
Incentives that give staff and service providers a real stake in the company they’re working to build offers tangible benefits to both growing and established businesses. Our team can design and create a bespoke share scheme tailored to align seamlessly with your business goals.
As experts in employee share schemes, we have the skills and experience to help you design a share scheme that works for your company, whether for employees, non-executive directors, or, where appropriate, contractors.
We can create a range of share schemes tailored to your needs, with EMI schemes being the most popular option due to their tax efficiency and flexibility.
Share scheme awards granted at an early stage are often the most tax-efficient, and for start-ups and growth companies, these awards can become highly valuable in the future, such as during an exit or investment round. Getting the structure right from the start is essential to maximise benefits and ensure long-term success.
Our team can support you with:
Designing a share plan that meets the company’s commercial objectives
Advising on how your company’s constitution may need to be adapted to facilitate the incentive strategy and protect the company and shareholders in the short-, medium- and long-term
Assisting with The Board level and shareholder level steps needed to put your plan in place
Advising on any regulations that relate to the employee share scheme plan
Drafting equity plan documents and template and/or individual award agreements
Advising on any employment law aspects of introducing and operating an employee share schemes plan
Obtaining any necessary clearances from HMRC and/or drafting share valuation submissions
Mitigating potential dilution and other impacts for founders, investors and other stakeholders
Advising on Directors’ remuneration and other corporate governance issues
We can also help you navigate complex employment tax rules related to equity awards, ensuring compliance and timely tax reporting to HMRC, avoiding penalties and interest. Our support extends to managing the tax implications of changes to employee share rights, employee exits, and equity sales during corporate events. Additionally, we can help structure employee rewards tax-efficiently to maximise financial gains and reduce employer National Insurance costs.
Senior leaders of ambitious businesses often tell us that attracting and retaining top talent during periods of scaling is one of their biggest challenges. Balancing the priorities of founders, investors, and employees, all while safeguarding cash flow and protecting working capital, is especially critical when implementing an employee share scheme.
That’s why they turn to us. We have the expertise to strike the right balance, creating an employee share scheme that aligns with your business strategy both now and in the future.
We also work with consultants to ensure that their interests are aligned with the business, helping you extend the benefits of your share scheme to key external contributors.
Making informed decisions
We can assist your company with both HMRC tax-advantaged schemes and non-tax advantaged schemes.
We’ll guide you through tax-advantaged mechanisms such as EMI, CSOP, SAYE, SIP, and EOT, including assessing your eligibility, obtaining HMRC share valuation agreements, drafting incentive plan documents, and managing your dealings with HMRC.
For non-tax advantaged schemes, such as ordinary and preferred share structures, employee share classes, growth shares, share options, RSUs, SARs, and phantom share schemes, we offer tailored advice to help you design and implement plans that align with your objectives. While these schemes don’t need to meet HMRC’s strict legal requirements, careful structuring is essential to maximise tax benefits and limit tax risks. Our lawyers can help with everything from determining the right approach to structuring, setting up, and administering your scheme effectively.
Finding the right legal partner
Choose a legal partner you can trust: we’ll help protect your goals, your business and your people so you can move forward with confidence and focus on growing your business.
Clear itemised invoices, subscription plans with up to 50% discount, and fixed fee products help you plan and manage legal spend – with no nasty surprises.
We’ve supported over 8,000 businesses since 2014, with an ‘Excellent’ rating on Trustpilot and a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 60+ from monthly client surveys.
We’re here to make things easier, not add complexity. That means fast response times, practical expert legal advice delivered in plain English, and dedicated client service and account management support.
We’re an SRA regulated firm, but more importantly, we build quality, data, and compliance best practice into everything we do.
Appointing a legal partner is a big decision. That’s why we’re open about our values, culture and model, so you can see what makes us tick. And because a productive partnership starts with understanding, we always begin with a conversation – listening to your goals, pressures and plans, then tailoring our support to fit.
Our clients have confidence in our services because we offer bespoke solutions rather than generic, one-size-fits-all approaches. For further reassurance that you’re making the right choice, hear directly from our clients about their positive experiences with us.
We are a small company and the process of setting up a company share scheme was pretty daunting. Abby Watson and Harper James Solicitors provided expert advice to ensure we understood the process and drafted all relevant documentation. We were very impressed with the service received and would recommend the firm to others.
Julie Robinson CEO, Move It or Lose It
We rely on Harper James to provide us with support across a full range of service areas, from commercial contracts and employment issues to fundraisings and investments. The team at Harper James are always available to provide us with cost effective, pragmatic and commercially focused advice.
Nick Holzherr CEO, Whisk.com
Harper James provides my small growing business with a scalable, reliable, team-oriented approach to legal advice. Whenever we face a problem, I know that Harper James are there to provide helpful and cost-effective advice, to scope out the options, make clear the costs and risks, and give me the information I need to make decisions.
Bryn Richards CEO, Aeristech
Harper James is a brilliant example of a company disrupting a traditional industry. Suddenly Solicitors become relevant and accessible for start-ups & small enterprises, with the best in-class knowledge of all major legal areas. I’ve used the business now for a year, and the Enable plan has been perfect for budgeting my company’s outgoings, and has given me a piece of mind when tackling key, decisive issues. Thank-you Harper James!
Koral Ibrahim Founder & MD, The Ready House
The support, advice and guidance from Harper James was absolutely vital. Shubhu, Callum and the team there were always on hand to deal with any issues that we needed help with as the deal progressed. This is an exciting new stage in the development of the business.
Sam G Bose CEO and Founder, IntelliSense.io
Abby got the job done in line with expectations. No dramas! I have used Harper James with several companies and for a range of legal topics. They generally provide good service at a very reasonable price point. They have a good understanding of growing technology companies.
Matthew Dreaper Co-Founder and CFO, Helix Technologies
It's been fantastic - I've worked with 3 lawyers to date (commercial, incentive, employment) and all three have been very competent in their areas. The value for money is unbeatable - I have already recommended it to another start up who plans to reach out shortly.
Colin Blakely Head of Finance, Qargo Tech Limited
The team at Harper James has got to know our business over 3 years and is super responsive, adaptable and versatile to our needs. The lawyers are helpful and just really nice people who we’ve come to trust.
Aela Callan Co-founder, Head Set Studio Limited
Ease of use, a familiar legal team supporting my business who understand my business, and provide value for money.
Daniel Lawrence CEO, Bots For That Ltd
Employee Ownership Trusts are quite a niche area, so while looking for a law firm that could give the correct advice, we were also looking for a team our client would approve of, being lawyers themselves. The price point was also attractive to us as we are a small business ourselves. As we act as an intermediary between our clients and lawyers, we always want to make sure our clients get the best deal possible whilst getting expert legal advice. Ian and the team at Harper James have been a pleasure to work with.
Kingsley Tedder Founder, Mobius Group
It was a pleasure working with Tristan, Matt and James. We are very pleased with the quality of advice and your team's in depth knowledge.
Raymond Lam Executive Director, Aeramine Limited
Thanks Sam and Nikki. We really appreciate all your help with our EOT transition and patience answering our questions to get to this point. I am sure there might be a few more that are thrown up as we start to communicate with the team, but it's a new chapter and one we are very much looking forward to.
Martin Coyne Managing Director, Bond & Coyne
Choosing Harper James was the best decision we made during this process. At one point, we felt stuck and struggled with providing certain documentation. Brigitta and the team knew how to explain what was needed and suddenly the process became much clearer. The guidance we received helped us avoid unnecessary delays and expenses. It made all the difference.
Steve Carrod Co-Founder, DMPG
Getting in touch with a law firm with diverse expertise for a gap analysis is vital - there are often areas requiring legal input that you might not anticipate. The solicitors at Harper James have taken the time to understand our business model and create specific contracts that have helped us unlock partnerships with large groups
Dr Charles Carslake Co-founder and CEO, Vet Vision AI
The Employee Share Schemes Team have been excellent. Great advice and in a timely way.
Adam Uttley Chief Financial Officer, When In Rome Wine Ltd
Thank you for all your support, guidance, and great advice through our EOT, and especially being up for the pressure of the year-end deadline race. It’s business as usual for you, but it’s been a real learning curve for us, and now it marks the start of a new chapter. It’s been a pleasure for us working with you.
Pete Knight Director, Zircom Data Communications
Meet our team
At the heart of our work is a commitment to helping businesses tackle challenges and grow. We can leverage the expertise of our colleagues in employment, business immigration, and corporate law to provide the legal backbone your business needs to succeed.
Many of us have not only worked for some of the most highly regarded law firms in the UK but have also served as in-house legal counsel or senior leaders in businesses. This diverse experience allows us to offer practical and insightful legal advice tailored to your needs.
Find out more about who you’ll be working with:
Senior Solicitor - Employee Share Schemes
Abby is a senior employee share schemes solicitor, specialising in private equity investments, mergers & acquisitions, EMI share schemes, corporate finance and governance and more.
Senior Solicitor - Employee Share Schemes
Liam has over 20 years’ experience from consulting, accounting and law firms. Liam advises on a range of schemes including EMI/CSOP share options, growth shares, SIP/SAYE plans, phantom shares and more.
Senior Solicitor - Employee Share Schemes
James has almost 20 years experience working in employee share schemes and incentives space including working as a legal director at a Top 40 UK national law firm and, at an award-winning tax consultancy in London.
Paralegal - Employee Share Schemes
Jen joins us from S&P Global Limited for a period of almost 13 years. Initially, she joined as an Executive Assistant where her role evolved to that of a Corporate Paralegal, and eventually, she was promoted to Senior Corporate Paralegal.
Senior Solicitor - Commercial
Pete is a commercial solicitor with a strong background in IP and corporate law. Pete works with businesses of different sizes and stages of growth, providing practical advice that is focused on their commercial objectives.
Pricing and service plans
Our three transparent service plans are designed to give you the widest possible access to high-quality legal advice, whatever the size and nature of your business:
Flexible access to senior solicitors at highly competitive rates
An alternative to our subscription plans, offering access to full service legal expertise on a project-by-project basis.
Purpose built legal support for start-ups and smaller businesses
Monthly subscription plan for £259 per month, with £174 monthly credit and access to all legal services at 50% discount on our Standard Rates.
Comprehensive legal partnership for established businesses
Fully account managed and scalable annual subscription plan with support from a curated team of partners and senior solicitors, with up to 33% discount on our Standard Rates.
Learn more about our service plans
Legal updates
25 March 2026
Spotlight on our people
20 November 2025
Thoughts and opinions
17 November 2025
Thoughts and opinions
16 October 2025
Ask the expert
12 September 2025
Thoughts and opinions
19 August 2025
Legal updates
25 March 2026
Spotlight on our people
20 November 2025
Thoughts and opinions
17 November 2025