IEL Elite

Overview

Baker McKenzie’s impressive – and truly international – employment and compensation law offering is headed up by Michael E Brewer in San Francisco.

Market commentators repeatedly single the firm out for its extensive global footprint, with teams spread across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Latin America.

The team understands our business and gives clear and practical advice.

In recent news, Singapore-based Celeste Ang became head of the Asia-Pacific employment team in July 2022, replacing Michael Michalandos in Sydney.

The group made a number of new partner promotions in 2022, including Theeranit Pongpanarat (Bangkok), Brigid Maher (Sydney), Christian Koops (Munich), Serena Fantinelli (Rome), and Jeremy Hann and Stephanie MacIntosh (Toronto).

Nóra Óváry-Papp has been promoted to counsel in Budapest, where M&A and employment expert Ákos Fehérváry was elected managing partner in June 2022.

The firm also expanded its employment law offering with the lateral hire of Christoph Stutz in Switzerland in October 2022.

Baker McKenzie continues to impress. We use them in a number of countries.

A further name of note is Julia Wilson in London. Clients describe her as a “standout” performer who "knows how we think".

In addition, Susan Eandi in Palo Alto and Seraphim Ma in Taiwan were singled out in IEL's 2022 Women Leaders survey.

Specialisms

Leveraging experts across six continents, Baker McKenzie’s employment and compensation practice is equally adept at national and cross-border transactional mandates and disputes.

Given its global reach and full-service offering, the firm is regularly appointed on high-profile, cross-border M&A transactions. As part of its experience in the corporate space, the team is well-versed in the employment aspects of corporate reorganisations and spin-offs.

Labour relations is a key practice area for the firm, and especially in Europe. Expertise in this area includes the establishment of works councils, and collective bargaining,

Meanwhile, experts in the group are adept at assisting with both individual and collective disputes. As part of this, the team is able to support with litigation and alternative dispute resolution.

Further areas of expertise include reward programmes, executive compensation and pensions; global immigration and mobility; and workplace privacy and data protection.

The practice also assists multinationals with day-to-day human resources needs, supply chains, trade secrets, and international labour and human rights matters.

Other key names

• Dr Bernhard Trappehl (Germany)
• Tatiana Garcés Carvajal (Colombia)
• John Evason (UK)

Experts based in...

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czechia, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam.