Experience. Independence. Judgment.
Independent, impartial fact-finding to untangle the thorniest employee disputes.
Skilled mediators guiding parties to respectful, durable agreements.
On-call expertise when sensitive employee issues erupt.
Equip leaders with proactive conflict-management skills.
Founded in 2025, ODW is the product of an almost 15 year working partnership that began when a freshly promoted Head of HR at one of London's most venerable institutions (Lisa) and an Associate at one of the city's preeminent employment law firms (James) tackled a particularly knotty issue together.
Since then, together and separately, acting for both employers and for employees, we have advised on, investigated and resolved hundreds of workplace issues across a diverse range of sectors and organisations. From education to hospitality, from charities to FTSE100 companies.
In the process, we have developed a shared vision of what 'good HR' looks like and a firm belief that the independent investigation and resolution of workplace issues should be embraced by employers and employees alike.
LLB (MCIPD)
Lisa is an award-winning former HR Director with 20 years experience in building people-first cultures and resolving tricky people issues for a range of market leading organisations in the charity, biotech, professional education and think tank sectors. Lisa has worked with some of the UK's most prominent organisations and leaders on extremely complex and sensitive workplace issues. As Managing Director of Professional Services at Chatham House, Europe's leading think tank, she pioneered a 'pro-independence' investigation policy - a policy she now practices as an independent investigator for some of the UK's biggest employers. An accredited mediator, Lisa is an advocate of an 'empathy-first' approach to resolving workplace issues to support people through even the most challenging situations.
BA (Non-Practising Solicitor)
James has a unique background as an investigator having been an employment solicitor, HR Consultant and startup founder who has advised employers and employees across a wide range of different sectors on hundreds of workplace issues at every stage (from informal resolution to Employment Tribunal litigation). James trained at elite global professional services firms, PwC and Eversheds Sutherland, before qualifying as a solicitor at Tier 1 employment law firm Lewis Silkin in 2010 where he advised some of Europe's best known businesses, charities and senior executives on complex employee relations issues. He spent a year in-house at M&S advising the HR leadership team on their most sensitive ER cases. Since leaving the law, James has worked as an HR Consultant advising, training and carrying out investigations and appeals for a diverse array of clients from hotel chains to academy chains, from think tanks to senior executives and from heritage organisations to law firms.
We have worked with some of the UK's most respected organisations: