Irina Anyukhina is the ALRUD Law Firm partner heading Labour and Employment practice. She is a recommended expert on Labour law, advising international and Russian companies on international and cross-border workplace issues, reductions and restructurings, senior executives and expatriate issues.

Irina operates at the interface of employment and corporate laws in cases involving mergers and acquisitions, implementation of incentive programmes, executive compensation and benefits, global and local employment policies, outsourcing, and employee privacy issues.

Irina is often involved in cross-border and internal investigations of employees’ misconduct. Irina represents clients in out-of-court settlements and disputes with employees.

Irina Anyukhina joined ALRUD in 2002 and became partner in 2007. Clients praise Irina for her business-oriented approach, outstanding communication skills, thoughtfulness and ability to clearly enunciate the core of the matter.

Irina graduated from the Moscow State University of International Affairs with Ministry of International Affairs of Russia, Public international law division of International law department.

Irina coordinates cooperation with Ius Laboris, the largest international alliance of Labour law professionals. She regularly speaks at international conferences, and is a member of International Bar Association (IBA) and American Bar Association (ABA).

Irina is also an active member of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA), a network of independent law firms, which provides a worldwide resource to individuals and corporations interested in answers to questions and solutions to problems involving the complex legal issues affecting advertisers and marketers.

From both an analytical and practical perspective, Jerome provides his clients with key knowledge and experience. Crucial to his approach is understanding how their business works, helping to create the most effective advice.

Jerome's key areas of specialism include labour law and social security law with a focus on all aspects of individual and collective employment law. He also assists clients in litigation matters with respect to employment law issues.

His specialisms extend to restructuring in all its forms, up to the filing of demands of what was traditionally referred to as early retirement schemes.

Furthermore, as part of a broader practice including employee benefits, Jérôme focuses on alternative remuneration schemes including bonus plans, stock option plans and group insurances.

Languages: French, Dutch, English Admitted to the Brussels Bar: 2003 Partner since: 2013

Partner of Demarest’s Labor Consulting area, Renato Canizares holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from FGV and a specialization in Labor Law and Social Security from PUC-SP. He actively advises on individual and collective labor issues, as well as on matters related to immigration, especially those involving foreign work in Brazil and the admission of Brazilian employees abroad. Among his main clients are local and multinational companies in the telecommunications, automotive, media and services sectors.

Languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish

His practice areas include labor and social security law. He has extensive experience in hiring and dismissals of senior employees, complex systems of variable compensations and incentive awards, and expatriate regimes. He also has outstanding experience in collective bargaining negotiations, union conflicts and reorganizations of companies in crises. He is also a specialist in labor disputes, with special expertise in complex claims.

Alvaro obtained his Law degree from Universidad Catolica Argentina (1999) and his postgraduate degree in Labor Law from Universidad Austral (2002).

He is a member of the Buenos Aires Bar Association and the International Bar Association (IBA).

Alvaro has been recognized by Chambers Latin America, The Legal 500, Latin Lawyer 250 and LACCA Approved.

He speaks Spanish and English.

His professional practice is focused on the Areas of Corporate and Labor Laws, as well as Customs Law and International Trade for the Firm. He advises the Firm’s clients, national and international, in corporate issues, labor contracts, litigation, immigration, social security, pensions, transfers of executives, downsizing and union negotiations. He is also a consultant in private international law matters, contracts and international trade, customs law, international trade defense for the World Trade Organization (WTO) and customs disputes.

He was previously a partner at Baker & McKenzie, where he worked for 16 years and where he founded and directed the Labor Group and the International Trade Practice.

Professor at the College of Law of the Pontificie Universidad Católica de Chile and the Universidad de Los Andes.

Languages: Spanish, English and German.

Rafael is a partner in the Garrigues Labor and Employment Department and has spent his professional career at the Firm after a stint at Arthur Andersen. He specializes in providing strategic advice on labor law and human resources matters to senior management and corporate HR managers.

He has participated in numerous projects over the course of his professional career at Garrigues and is currently a legal adviser with proven expertise in the following areas, among others:

Integral labor and employment advice to Spanish and multinational companies, both public and private, in various industries, providing ongoing support for the analysis of all labor and social security-related issues raised and for decision-making in the area of human resources.

Restructuring processes, collective layoffs, temporary layoffs and material modifications to collective working conditions (including opting out of the conditions of collective labor agreements): providing advice both at the preparation stage and in negotiations with unions and workers’ representatives, until their effective implementation.

Collective bargaining: active assistance and support in the design and preparation of the negotiation process, as well as in the negotiation phase, the agreement phase and in formalizing the agreement. Among other sectors, he has advised gas station employees, notary’s office employees and employers in various collective labor agreements and company agreements.

Leader – International Labor & Employment COE at General Electric

Susan leads GE’s team of labor and employment lawyers for all regions outside North America. The international labor & employment team is responsible for providing L&E support to all of GE’s businesses, with around 200,000 employees across 120 countries. The team’s work covers the full range of people related legal issues, from M&A and litigation through to advisory work, supporting large scale change projects and proactively upskilling and empowering HR teams around the world.

Prior to joining GE, Susan was Head of HR Strategy as well as leading the Litigation and Employment legal team for Legal & General, a large financial services company headquartered in London. Susan started her career in private legal practice, working first for McGrigor Donald in Scotland then Lovells in the City of London.

Susan holds an LLB and Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of Glasgow. She is professionally qualified as a solicitor in both Scotland and England, and is a solicitor-advocate in England. She is also qualified as an attorney in New York State.

She regularly speaks on both domestic and international employment law issues and is a former chair of the In-House Employment Lawyers Network in the UK.

Yukiko Imazu focuses her practice in the area of labor and employment and acts on behalf of both Japanese and non-Japanese companies in advising on labor and employment issues. She is also an experienced labor and employment litigator, having successfully defended many cases. She also gives seminars and training sessions regarding labor and employment matters tailored to clients' needs, both in Japanese and English. Especially, she gives a lot of harassment prevention seminars to non-Japanese companies, Japanese companies, Japanese governmental bodies and universities.

David is a reputation and privacy risk advisor. Much of his work is for individuals and businesses operating in challenging markets, where issues are complex and often politically exposed. David’s role is to help clients navigate the risks stemming from disputes, controversies and crises.

His work involves developing strategies to exert control over difficult situations where there are often varied and competing interests from parties including: the media, governments, NGOs, banks and financial institutions. In order to solve client problems David frequently leads multidisciplinary teams of investigators, lawyers, security experts and other specialist advisors, both internal and external to Schillings.

A former Big 4 Executive Advisor with a speciality in risk and crisis management, David is a Certified Member of the Institute of Risk Managers (CMIRM) and a Certified Information Security Systems Professional (CISSP).

Sian is a partner in the Employment Department and a member of the firm's Diversity & Inclusion Board.

Sian represents clients on a wide range of disputes, team moves and exits. She advises across sectors including financial services, tech and insurance. She also conducts independent investigations. Her practice covers the full range of employment law as well as corporate immigration issues and she advises on all aspects of employment litigation, including High Court actions.

Sian is recognised as a 'Leading Individual' and 'Thought Leader' in Who’s Who Legal: Management Labour & Employment 2019.

Sian regularly speaks at client seminars and external conferences on a range of topics including redundancy, discrimination, flexible working, maternity/adoption/paternity and parental leave, and the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations.

PhD in law, LL.M. (Harvard)—over 15 years of experience in employment law and outsourcing

Dr Szymon Kubiak co-heads the Employment practice. He handles individual and collective Polish and European labour law and outsourcing. He has long-term experience in employment restructuring, including outsourcing and group dismissals in complex and cross-border employee transfers (including transfers of enterprises and parts of enterprises) and provides ongoing advice on atypical and flexible forms of employment and hiring of temporary workers. He also advises on issues associated with social packages and in creating and implementing legal compliance programmes, and coordinates due diligence of companies.

He coordinates the firm’s business development.

He joined Wardyński & Partners in 2004.

Žilvinas Kvietkus has a well-established practice and reputation in the areas of Life sciences and Pharmaceutical law, Corporate and Intellectual property and related Dispute resolution. During more than 15 years legal practice he has advised on a wide range of pharmaceutical work and possesses extensive experience in the Lithuanian and EU pharmaceutical sector. Mr Kvietkus has acted for numerous clients in many significant cases related to copyrights, trademarks and patents, in addition he has provided extensive counselling in M&A transactions involving pharmaceutical, telecoms and other regulated sectors. Other specialisations include labour and commercial laws.

Oliver Loach is HR Director, Employment Law and Employee Relations at Mitie, the UK’s leading facilities management company with 52,000 employees providing outsourced managed services, including workspace management, cleaning, security and engineering services. Oliver is responsible for a mix of employment law and HR areas, spanning Mitie’s diverse workforce. He previously trained at Taylor Wessing LLP, before joining the John Lewis Partnership as an in-house lawyer, and latterly as Head of Employment Law.

Catherine is Head of William Fry’s Employment & Benefits Department. She advises on all contentious and non-contentious employment matters with a particular expertise in equality issues. Catherine also has significant experience advising clients in relation to confidentiality, restrictive covenants and severance related matters. Catherine has acted on behalf of a wide range of commercial clients and also regularly advises senior level executives.

Recent significant matters include advising:

An employer on the enforcement of restrictive covenants in an employment contract in the context of a “team move”;

An employer in relation to employment issues arising from the Central Bank’s Fitness & Probity Regime;

An employer in relation to the successful execution of an Anton Piller Order.

Catherine has lectured and written extensively in relation to employment law matters. She is a committee member of the Law Society’s Employment and Equality Law Committee and of the American Chamber of Commerce Employment Law Working Group.

Naomi is currently Senior Legal Counsel for Activision Blizzard focusing on all employment related matters for EMEA, LATAM and Australia. She is also a member of the global compliance team.

Anshul Prakash is a Partner with the Corporate and Commercial Practice Group in the Mumbai office. He specialises in Employment and Labour laws and heads the Firm’s Employment, Labour and Benefits (ELB) Practice.

Anshul has advised various prominent domestic and international clients on issues related to employment in respect of labour laws compliance, labour audits, transfer and relocation of employees pursuant to business transfers and asset sale and purchase, social security and employee incentive schemes, maternity benefits, drafting of employment contracts across levels including senior managerial personnel, human resource and personnel policy, workforce restructuring, hiring and termination of senior management, mid-level and subordinate personnel, workers and labour union issues, outsourced worker issues, assistance on domestic enquiries and investigations and exit strategies including documentation, prevention of sexual and other forms of harassment at workplace, industrial safety and health policies, government inspections and representations before the relevant authorities.

Annalisa advices Italian and foreign clients in matters concerning Employment Law, social security (also in litigation) with a focus on Employment Law aspects of acquisitions, corporate restructuring and management of contracts for top managers of multinationals corporations, companies of the financial sector and other industries. In addition, she offers assistance in matters concerning remuneration policies, compliance programs, international mobility, retention/non compete restrictions and corporate governance issues.

Annalisa has also gained extensive experience in complex corporate restructuring processes, outsourcing, national and international reorganization plans, also with assistance in industrial relations.

Annalisa has been recognized as a leading lawyer by prominent international legal guides such as Chambers and Legal 500. She has received the award "Lawyer of the Year - Labour Dispute" at TopLegalAwards 2018, “Italian Labour Lawyer of the Year” at the Legalcommunity Labour Awards 2016. Annalisa is often speaker in national and international conferences and lectures in courses/seminars of employment law. She is also Global Chair of the Lex Mundi Employment and Labour Practice Group.

Jennifer Redmond is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office and is Leader of the firm's Noncompete and Trade Secrets Team. She is also a member of the firm's Compensation Committee.

Jennifer specializes in executive disputes and negotiations, negotiating and litigating restrictive covenants, trade secrets litigation, whistleblower litigation, and wage and hour class action litigation. She writes regularly on the topic of restrictive covenants in California and assists in the structuring of transactions and relationships to support the use of restrictive covenants. She has significant experience in the technology, financial services, entertainment, drug distribution, and national multi-housing industries.

Jennifer's general employment experience includes counseling employers on enforcement of non-solicitation and non-compete agreements, protection of trade secrets, wage and hour compliance, WARN Act compliance, family and medical leave compliance, disability accommodation, and employee housing, among other topics; assisting in the design and implementation of restructuring and downsizing programs; mediating employment disputes; training management and employees on harassment and discrimination prevention on compliance with wage and hour obligations.

Holly has over 15 years of experience as a specialist in employment law, providing timely and practical advice to clients in respect of all laws relating to workplace issues. Holly regularly advises large private and publicly listed companies on matters of significant legal and reputational importance, including the negotiation of executive contracts, transitions within executive leadership teams, class action and other risks relating to changes to compensation and benefit plans, and incidents of sexual harassment, workplace violence and bullying. Holly provides advice on complex accommodation requests and disputes and has a particular expertise in accessibility law. Holly takes a leadership role in coordinating employment law advice among employment lawyers in various Canadian jurisdictions for clients with employment law needs across Canada, and speaks and provides client training sessions on executive compensation, human rights, accessibility and employment law topics. As an advocate, Holly regularly represents employers in wrongful dismissal actions and human rights applications.

A significant portion of Holly’s practice is devoted to advising on the employment and labour aspects of complex corporate transactions, including the drafting and negotiation of purchase agreements, retention and transaction bonus agreements, and commercial and employment restrictive covenant agreements. Holly also advises on post-closing human resources integration matters.

Richard Searle is the global head of the Employment Legal Group at Western Union, an international money remittance and financial payments company. He manages a team based in Denver (the company’s headquarters) and Europe that handles employment law issues for a workforce based in over 50 countries. Prior to joining Western Union in 2013, Richard was a Senior Associate at a leading UK firm and before that was an associate at the London office of a US firm. Richard originally qualified as a barrister before moving to New Zealand to practice for a number of years. Richard is on the steering committee of the In-House Employment Law Network operated by Thomson Reuters.

Ueli Sommer is a partner at Walder Wyss and head of the Employment Law Team. He has many years of experience in all aspects of employment law and focuses on compensation schemes, option and participation plans. He also advises international companies and private individuals on immigration and choice of domicile issues. In addition, Ueli Sommer has substantial experience in structuring of agreements and transactions involving complex corporate group issues. He advises companies on restructurings and manages corporate transactions. Ueli Sommer is a Member of the Board of the European Employment Lawyers Association (EELA), Immediate Past Chair of the International Employment Law Committee of the ABA Section of International Law, President of the Board of the Australian Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Vice-Chair of the Discrimination and Equality Law of the International Bar Association.

Born in 1970, Ueli Sommer was educated at Zurich University (lic. iur. 1995, Dr. iur. 1999) and at the University of New South Wales in Sydney (LL.M. 2001). He worked as a district court clerk before joining Walder Wyss in 1999. In 2001 and 2002, he worked as a foreign associate for Allens Arthur Robinson in Sydney.

Ueli Sommer speaks German and English. He is registered with the Zurich Bar Registry and admitted to practice in all Switzerland.

Eleanor Taylor is Head of Legal, employment and labour at easyJet. With employees in 9 European countries and with trade union representation across 90% of the workforce, Eleanor’s current remit has a heavy focus on industrial and employee relations issues as well as juggling the diversity of the European labour law landscape affecting the business. Prior to joining easyJet, Eleanor held senior labour law roles at British Airways, General Electric and the BBC and has a breadth of experience across litigation, high profile employee and industrial disputes as well as corporate restructure issues.

My name is Ricardo Vargas Aguilar and, as of 2003, I have cultivated relationships and friendships at Oller Abogados, since that is how we work with our clients.

I was born and live in Cartago, where I learned to enjoy going to the movies. My family owned an independent movie theater there, in the time where there was at least one in each province and movies were received in tin boxes.

I have been practicing law for more than 20 years and my emphasis is in Corporate and Tax Law, and I am passionate about subjects related to arbitration

area in which at national level and advising foreign clients I have been working in the last 5 years.

At Oller Abogados each person’s area of work is well defined, but we are constantly learning from each other.

Anu Waaralinna is a Helsinki-based Partner and Head of the firm’s Employment practice. She is a highly recognized expert in employment law.

Anu has extensive experience from demanding employment-related assignments, and she regularly advises domestic and international companies and employers on a broad range of employment issues of strategic importance. Her practice covers in particular boardroom advice, company restructurings and co-operation procedures as well as service and executive employment contract issues. A significant portion of her work is dedicated to the resolution of employment disputes.

Anu is a frequent lecturer on topics on employment law, and she has also authored books and articles on the subject.

Jenny Welander Wadström is a Stockholm-based Partner and Head of the firm’s Employment practice. She has extensive experience from a broad range of employment and pension law issues including advice relating to mergers and acquisitions as well as restructurings, various general employment law matters, disputes and negotiations.

Jenny’s previous work experience includes working for another major law firm in Sweden as well as for the Swedish Labour Court and Swedish Match AB.

Jenny is recognized as one of the leading experts in Sweden within employment law by international legal directories such as Chambers Europe, The Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal.

Thomas heads the employment practice of Gleiss Lutz. He advises clients on complex matters concerning labour and employment law, in particular in connection with corporate transactions and reorganisations, compliance investigations, works council matters and co-determination as well as on occupational pension schemes.

Thomas studied at the universities of Heidelberg and Munich. He has been a partner at Gleiss Lutz since 2009. In 2004/2005 he was seconded to a law firm in New York City and San Francisco.

Thomas speaks German and English.