European Employment Summit

Thursday, 21 September

100 Bishopsgate, London

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This event has now passed.

Details of the European Employment Summit in 2024 will be released shortly. To register your interest in attending, sponsoring, or speaking, please get in touch.

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Following the success of our inaugural event last year, International Employment Lawyer is delighted to announce that the second European Employment Summit will take place on 21 September.

The full-day event will bring together senior in-house and private practice lawyers to explore the intersection of employment law with other areas of practice as well as the challenges and opportunities facing multinational employers and their counsel across the region.

Our expert panellists will explore a host of topics, including the future of restrictive covenants, the risks of algorithmic decision-making, and trends in collective and individual disputes – as well as explore the challenges, and questions, arising in mergers and acquisitions via a fictional case study.

Our Editor-in-Chief John van der Luit-Drummond will also hold a fireside chat with leading in-house employment counsel Suraya Mailvaganam of Google, to discuss her career and challenges of working in-house.

For further information about the summit including registration, speaking, and sponsorship opportunities, please get in touch.

Chaired by:

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Kathleen Healy

Partner

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Programme:

8:15 - 9:00 – Registration and welcome coffee

9:00 - 9:15 – Welcome remarks

9:15 - 10:30 – Session 1: Competition law: The future of restrictive covenants and collective bargaining

Competition agencies on both sides of the Atlantic are showing renewed interest in restrictive covenants, including no-poaching agreements, wage fixing, and non-competes. In parallel, the EU has adopted a new and more flexible approach to collective bargaining. This session will consider the interplay between employment and competition law, the future of non-competes, collective bargaining trends, and how to respond to dawn raids and antitrust investigations.

Moderator:

Tobias Normann, Partner, Mannheimer Swartling (Sweden)

Panellists:

Matthew Briggs, Senior Director, Lead Labour & Employment - EMEA, Salesforce (United Kingdom)
Juliette Enser, Senior Director, Cartels, Competition and Markets Authority (United Kingdom)
Emma Röhsler, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills (France)
Richard Searle, Managing Associate General Counsel, Employment, Western Union (United Kingdom)

10:30 - 11:00 – Coffee break

11:00 - 12:15 – Session 2: Data protection: Big Brother dangers

From offices to factories to remote workers, data analysis is increasingly being used to performance manage the workforce. Despite its potential benefits, this session will consider how algorithmic decision-making presents a risk to employers; how updates to data protection and privacy rules impact on managing the workforce; the rise of data subject access requests as a litigation tactic; and how organisations can best manage data in internal investigations.

Moderator:

Michael Doyle, Partner, A&L Goodbody (Ireland)

Panellists:

Rubén Agote, Partner, Cuatrecasas (Spain)
Kate Bryan, Founder & CEO, Data Driven Legal (United Kingdom)
Shirin Huber, Director Data Privacy, UPS (Germany)
Alexander Milner-Smith, Partner, Lewis Silkin (United Kingdom)
Nicola Philp, Managing Counsel, Labour and Employment EMEA, Syneos Health (United Kingdom)

12:15 – 1:45 – Networking Lunch

1:45 - 2:15 – In conversation with Suraya Mailvaganam, Director, Head of EMEA Employment Legal at Google (United Kingdom)

A fireside chat with Suraya Mailvaganam on her career as an in-house lawyer and examining the opportunities and challenges of key cross-border trends impacting multinational employers.

2:15 - 3:30 – Session 3: Corporate law: A seat at the table

Using a fictional case study, this panel will be advising a company board on a merger/acquisition facing several complex issues. Panellists will consider the pros and cons of an Employer of Record arrangement within the target business; provide advice on early interactions with works councils and trade unions; how to retain and incentivise key talent; and undertaking due diligence for group ESG targets.

Moderator:

Alice Greenwell, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (United Kingdom)

Panellists:

Elliot Bates, Legal Counsel (Employment) Deutsche Bank (United Kingdom)
Vanessa Jakovich, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (United Kingdom)
Bruno Monteiro da Silva, Executive Director, M&A and Transaction Solutions - EMEA, Aon (Portugal)
Grant Spooner, Managing Director - Employment Law Lead EMEA, Accenture (United Kingdom)

3:30 - 4:00 – Coffee break

4:00 - 5:15 – Session 4: Disputes: European trends

The disputes landscape is evolving fast across Europe, with more group claims being introduced while individual litigation continues to grow. This panel will consider key collective and individual disputes trends across the continent and their likely impact on employers. Experts will discuss new litigation strategies, the rise of claimant firms and third-party funding, and legal tech tools needed to support group claims. They will also consider the impact of the Representative Actions Directive.

Moderator:

Balz Gross, Partner, Homburger (Switzerland)

Panellists:

Pierre-Emmanuel Froissart, Senior Counsel, Labour & Employment, Western and Southern Europe, Uber (France)
Lorna Gibb, Deputy CLO, Nokia (United Kingdom)
Marianne Granhøj, Partner, Kromann Reumert (Denmark)
Camilla Palmer KC (Hon), Associate Tenant, Doughty Street Chambers (United Kingdom)

5.15 – 5.30 – Closing remarks

5:30 – Close and networking drinks reception