Sarah advises clients, particularly in the pharmaceutical and financial services sectors, on a wide range of individual and collective employment law issues and represents them during litigation.
Sarah is a Counsel in our People & Reward practice group in Düsseldorf with 15+ years of professional experience as an employment lawyer in three jurisdictions (France, Canada and Germany).
Sarah’s practice covers a wide range of individual and collective employment law matters, with a focus on cross-border HR projects, such as reorganizations, workforce reductions and global policies. She also regularly advises multinationals on the employment aspects of commercial transactions.
Sarah has extensive experience in coordinating international projects involving multiples jurisdictions across the globe.
After spending 9 years in Paris as a French employment lawyer in international law firms, primarily at Freshfields (from 2012 to 2017), she moved to Montreal in 2018, where she obtained her license to practice and worked for almost two years at Blakes (a partner firm of Freshfields’ Stronger Together network). In August 2021, Sarah re-joined Freshfields and is now based in Düsseldorf.
Next to her fee earning role, Sarah also heads our global practice development function.
Sarah is admitted to the bars of Paris, Düsseldorf and Quebec and speaks German, French and English fluently.
- Advising Yokohama on the employment aspects of its acquisition of the global OTR business from Goodyear, including the coordination of local counsel in 30+ countries;
- Advising Merck on the employment aspects of the global carve-out and sale of its Surface Solutions to GNMI, including assistance with the related information & consultation processes and advice on the employee transfer mechanics in 25+ countries;
- Advising 3M on the employment and pensions aspects of the worldwide carve-out and spin-off of its healthcare business, now listed under ‘Solventum’, involving more than 90 jurisdictions and over 20,000 employees worldwide, including the global coordination of the employment workstream;
- Advising UBS on the employment law aspects associated with the integration of the Crédit Suisse business into the UBS organization (including a 12-month part-time secondment);
- Advising a German-based telecommunications company on senior management hires and separations;
- Advising Cochlear on the implementation of a global whistleblower policy in compliance with the requirements of the EU Whistleblowing Directive, including the coordination of the roll-out in several EU jurisdictions;
- Advising a US-based automotive and e-mobility supplier on the employment aspects of the separation and subsequent spin-off of its global fuel injection and aftermarket businesses, including the coordination of local counsel in over 30 countries;
- Oerlikon on the renewal of its European works council, including the coordination of the elections in 15+ member states;
- Advising Altor Fund and SMS Group on the employment aspects of their joint investment for a 50% shareholding in KAEFER Isoliertechnik GmbH & Co. KG and leading the HR due diligence workstream in several jurisdictions;
- Coordinating for Flint Group the employment aspects of the pre-closing carve-outs in the context of the sale of its global XSYS business to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds, a global PE firm;
- Advising Beiersdorf on the employment aspects of its acquisition of Chantecaille;
- Advising ThyssenKrupp on the employment aspects of the pre-closing carve-outs in the context of the sale of its global mining business to FLSmidth involving more than 25 countries;
- Advising Boehringer Ingelheim on the employment aspects of its global asset swap with Sanofi, including managing the HR workstream in 49 jurisdictions;
- Advising Bristol Myers-Squibb on the employment aspects of the sale of its global diabetes business to AstraZeneca and coordinating the HR workstream in more than 40 countries; and
- Advising Evotec on the employment aspects of the acquisition of the technology and research platforms of Sanofi-aventis R&D's site in Toulouse as well as on various post-acquisition issues.
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