Allen & Overy

Working as part of an integrated team 

Our integrated Employment, Pensions & Incentives (EPI) department comprises some of the market’s leading practitioners, with over 180 lawyers located across 23 jurisdictions. Consistently highly ranked in the legal tables in each of the three areas, we offer high quality advice on issues such as boardroom disputes, employee discrimination, executive remuneration and tax issues, complex pension arrangements or complex cross-border transactional issues. The EPI practice works as part of an integrated team with our corporate M&A lawyers, not only in carrying out projects, but in winning them too as most large scale M&A transactions involve HR issues which can often be critical to the outcome of a transaction.

Our Employment specialists are involved in both contentious and non-contentious work including workplace issues, such as working conditions, employee relations, HR policies and privacy, restructuring, relationship breakdowns and dispute resolution. Our Pensions specialists handle quality advisory and litigation work, while our Incentives team offers expert advice on equity incentive plans, employment tax issues and corporate governance in the context of executive pay.

Our Employment team recently advised HSBC on a high profile sexual orientation discrimination claim following the dismissal of an employee for gross personal misconduct at work. The case was the first high-value, City-based claim under the sexual orientation discrimination laws, which were introduced in December 2003 and involved novel legal questions. Our Pensions team recently advised WH Smith on the pensions aspects of its demerger. Our Incentives team acted for Red Football Limited on its high profile acquisition of Manchester United PLC. The circumstances of the acquisition meant that there was a short window of time within which the employee share plan matters had to be dealt with.

You can find more information about the Employment & Employee Benefits practice area on the main Allen & Overy website.