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Employment and Employee Benefits: Super League 2012
Practical Law UK Articles 1-521-5815 (Approx. 12 pages)
Employment and Employee Benefits: Super League 2012
by Krina Amin, PLC Which lawyer?
| Published on 13 Sep 2013 • International |
The PLC Which lawyer? Super League encompasses the best firms according to our research, which have both breadth and depth of recommendations in employment and employee benefits.
This article reveals the results of the 2012 Employment and Employee Benefits Super League, as well as profiling the member firms of the IUS LABORIS and L&E Global employment law alliances.
Baker & McKenzie
With an enviable network ranging from the Americas to Australia, Baker & McKenzie has yet again topped the table for our Super League this year. The firm’s employment prowess lies not from its sheer global reach, but rather a consistent delivery of high quality advice across the whole gamut of labour, incentives and employment issues. As clients request a higher degree of international co-ordination to maximise upon their efficiencies, Baker & McKenzie is optimally placed to deliver on such demands. The London office has forged strong relations with British Airways, led by client-relationship partner John Evason, who is adept at easing tense industrial relations. In Asia, with a strong foothold on anti-corruption issues in both China and Hong Kong, Baker & McKenzie is the legal counsel of choice for several household multinationals operating in the region.
Morgan Lewis
Clients and peers alike rate Morgan Lewis as a first class employment outfit. The firm’s emphasis on complex wage and hour class actions and strong client base in financial institutions pushes the firm to second place. The US practice is spearheaded by Joseph Costello, an expert in ERISA litigation. With over 40 attorneys specialising in ERISA litigation, Morgan Lewis is a world-class firm for high end advisory and litigation work. The firm continues to excel in all areas of labour and employment matters and is a firm of great strength in both the US and France.
Paul Hastings
Paul Hastings boasts an excellent reputation in Asia, the EU and US for both employment and labour work. It has one of the strongest brand names in this space and deservedly places third in the Super League. As a heavyweight in class actions, the firm boasts an unrivalled reputation for wage and hour disputes for a number of household names. California-based Nancy Abell is widely recognised as a leader in her field.
Norton Rose
A global heavyweight in the employment field, Norton Rose offers a wide-ranging breadth of coverage throughout its international network. The firm has bolstered its international capabilities over the years through the mergers with Deacons in Australia, Ogilvy Renault and Macleod Dixon in Canada and Deneys Reitz in South Africa. The team in Australia are experts in occupational health and safety matters, a growing area for employment practitioners. Meanwhile in Québec, the firm boasts a leading status for the whole gamut of employment, labour and share plans matters.
Allen & Overy
Notably recognised for representing the financial sector in high stakes executive compensation work, Allen & Overy continues to secure a strong presence in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK. London-based Mark Mansell is indicative of the firm’s superior standing in boardroom matters. Clients view the firm as their pre-eminent advisers for complex transactional or litigious employment matters.
Jones Day
Jones Day has a global reputation for employment work. The firm offers cross-border expertise to its multinational clients from its offices in France, Italy and the UK, as well as its excellent North American operations. Specifically, the firm’s strategic focus on the US Railway Labor Act adds a unique dimension to Jones Day’s labour capabilities, making it the leading firm in labour management relations across the US.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Freshfields' London team is best known for its share incentives and pensions work, with a particularly strong presence on transactional work. The German and Japanese offices remain leaders in the employment space and impress peers and clients alike with their sheer excellence in cross-border work.
Proskauer Rose
Proskauer Rose has a formidable reputation for employment work. It has a first rate practice in wage and hour class actions and a strong presence in representing major sporting leagues. Clients recognise Paul Salvatore as a leading figure in handling sensitive collective bargaining matters. Internationally, the firm boasts an impressive presence in France and offers clients a full service employment offering amidst a strong unionised environment.
Hogan Lovells
Since the combination of Hogan & Hartson and Lovells in 2010, the employment, share plans and pensions practices have remained consistently strong across its global network. The China practice is paving the way for employee investigations and contentious work, a fast developing area. Although the firm is rebuilding its German base, the employment team has won impressive mandates over the past year and is at the forefront of cross-border employment and share plan matters.
Littler Mendelson
With one of the largest employment networks in the US, Littler stands out for its litigious prowess across North America. By representing a broad range of clients, the firm has developed a stronghold over the full gamut of employment issues. Adding to this coverage, the firm recently expanded into Mexico with the hire of leading employment lawyer Oscar de la Vega, an expert on social security and complex transactions.
Super League
Rank | Firm | Score | Number of recommended lawyers | Recommended in... |
1 | Baker & McKenzie | 200 | 42 | Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, China, Colombia, England & Wales, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA (IL: Chicago) and Venezuela |
2 | Morgan Lewis | 85 | 17 | France and USA (CA: Los Angeles, CA: San Francisco and Silicon Valley, DC: Washington, IL: Chicago, NY: New York and TX: Austin, Dallas, Houston) |
3 | Paul Hastings | 85 | 15 | China, France, Hong Kong and USA (CA: Los Angeles, CA: San Francisco and Silicon Valley, DC: Washington, GA: Atlanta and NY: New York) |
4 | Norton Rose | 72 | 13 | Australia, Canada (Ontario and Québec), England & Wales, South Africa and Venezuela |
5 | Allen & Overy | 70 | 13 | Belgium, England & Wales, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands |
6 | Jones Day | 70 | 13 | England & Wales, France, Italy and USA (CA: Los Angeles, CA: San Francisco and Silicon Valley, DC: Washington, GA: Atlanta, IL: Chicago, NY: New York and TX: Austin, Dallas, Houston) |
7 | Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | 65 | 10 | Austria, England & Wales, France, Germany, Japan and Spain |
8 | Proskauer Rose | 61 | 13 | France and USA (CA: Los Angeles, DC: Washington and NY: New York) |
9 | Hogan Lovells | 57 | 11 | China, England & Wales, Germany, Poland, Spain and USA (DC: Washington) |
10 | Littler Mendelson | 51 | 14 | Mexico and USA (CA: Los Angeles, CA: San Francisco and Silicon Valley, DC: Washington, GA: Atlanta, IL: Chicago, MA: Boston, NY: New York and TX: Austin, Dallas, Houston) |
Methodology
The Employment and Employee Benefits Super League is based on the PLC Which lawyer? research conducted for the PLC Employment and Employee Benefits multi-jurisdictional guide (see www.practicallaw.com/employment-mjg). The rankings in this article are based on the position online as at 10 October 2012.
1. Basis of the PLC Which lawyer? research: our team of researchers speak to leading legal practices throughout the year, as well as with clients who have recently instructed lawyers, to identify the best known specialists/practices across the key corporate and commercial areas globally. We monitor and analyse recent deal/case information across these areas to identify the firms most active in the market, as well as conducting peer review exercises among the leading practices. On the basis of this research, we rank lawyers and law firms for their expertise in employment. For a full explanation of the research and practice areas/subcategories covered, please visit www.practicallaw.com/whichlawyer.
2. The focus of the employment and employee benefits research includes: employment, employee benefits, pensions and pensions litigation (England only), business immigration (US only) and international employment advice (US only).
3. Law firms are ranked in each practice area as "leading", "highly recommended", "recommended" or "recognised" in the jurisdictions in which they have relevant capability. Individual lawyers with strong reputations in this sector are singled out as "endorsed".
4. The Employment and Employee Benefits Super League results are calculated by aggregating the results of law firm and lawyer recommendations in all of the above practice areas across 49 jurisdictions, with different points allocated to the level of recommendation. Firm recommendations are given more weighting than individual rankings. To qualify for inclusion in the Super League, a firm must receive recommendations in a minimum of two countries.
5. Firms are ranked by total score and then by number of recommended lawyers. If firms receive identical scores they are ranked in accordance with which firm has the most recommended lawyers. If firms have the same number of recommended lawyers, the one with more firm recommendations will be ranked higher.
6. Policy on mergers: points are aggregated if a full merger has been implemented before the calculations for the Super League commences. Correspondent and alliance firms are not included.
7. Firm names are abbreviated to those used in their headquartered jurisdiction.
Ius Laboris and L&E Global Law Firms
This year, we have decided to profile two well known employment law firm alliances: the long established IUS LABORIS network and L&E Global, a relative newcomer to the law firm alliance market.
Both alliances were founded as a platform for member firms to compete with the larger international law firms in providing global HR and employment law advice to clients. It brings together private practitioners from across the HR arena, offering expertise in all areas including discrimination, employment, pensions, employee benefits and immigration. The IUS LABORIS network, having been around much longer, is still more extensive than the smaller L&E Global alliance. However, the latter has been regularly increasing the number of practices it admits as members in recent years, and will continue to do so in order to achieve a strong global spread of firms.
Our chart shows the PLC Which lawyer? rankings achieved by IUS LABORIS and L&E Global firms as of 10 October 2012. The total score achieved by all the ranked IUS LABORIS member firms is 357. The total score achieved by all the ranked L&E Global members firms is 86.
IUS LABORIS member firms
Country | Firm | Ranking | Number of lawyers recommended |
Argentina | Funes de Rioja & Asociados | Leading | 3 |
Austria | Kunz Schima Wallentin Rechtsanwälte OG | Leading | 1 |
Belgium | Claeys & Engels | Leading | 4 |
Brazil | Veirano Advogados | Leading | 2 |
Canada | Heenan Blaikie | Leading (employment - Ontario and Québec) Highly recommended (employment - British Columbia; employee benefits and pensions - Québec) Recommended (employee benefits and pensions - Ontario) | 9 |
Chile | Philippi Yrarrázaval Pulido & Brunner | Highly recommended | 1 |
Colombia | Brigard & Urrutia | Highly recommended | 1 |
Cyprus | George Z. Georgiou & Associates | Recognised | 1 |
Czech Republic | Randl Partners | Leading | 1 |
Denmark | Norrbom Vinding | Leading | 3 |
England (employment) | Lewis Silkin | Leading | 5 |
England (pensions) | Sacker & Partners | Leading (pensions) Highly recommended (pensions litigation) | 3 |
Finland | Dittmar & Indrenius | Leading | 2 |
France | Capstan Avocats | Leading | 3 |
Germany | Kliemt & Vollstädt | Highly recommended | 2 |
Greece | Kremalis Law Firm | Recommended | 1 |
India | Kochhar & Co | Recognised | 0 |
Ireland | LK Shields Solicitors | Recommended (employee benefits and pensions) Recognised (employment) | 2 |
Israel | Herzog Fox & Neeman | Leading | 2 |
Italy | Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo e Soci | Leading | 3 |
Luxembourg | Castegnaro | Leading | 1 |
Mexico | Basham Ringe y Correa | Highly recommended | 1 |
Norway | Hjort | Highly recommended | 2 |
Poland | Raczkowski i Wspólnicy | Leading | 1 |
Portugal | pbbr - Pedro Pinto, Bessa Monteiro, Reis, Branco, Alexandre Jardim & Associados - Sociedade de Advogados, RL | Recommended | 1 |
Russia | Alrud | Recommended | 1 |
Spain | Sagardoy Abogados | Leading | 3 |
Sweden | Elmzell Advokatbyrå | Highly recommended | 2 |
Switzerland | Lenz & Staehelin | Leading | 1 |
Turkey | Bener Law Office | Recommended | 1 |
USA | Littler Mendelson* | Recommended (nationwide for employment and international employment advice) Recommended (CA: Los Angeles) Recommended (CA: San Francisco) Recommended (DC: Washington) Recommended (GA: Atlanta) Recommended (IL: Chicago - employment and employee benefits) Recommended (NY: New York - employment) Recommended (Texas) | 12 |
Recommended in 30 countries | 17 Leading firm endorsements | 75 lawyers recommended worldwide |
*Due to leave the alliance on 1 January 2013.
L&E Global member firms
Country | Firm | Ranking | Number of lawyers recommended |
Australia | Harmers Workplace Lawyers | Recommended | 1 |
Austria | Gerlach Lawyers | Recognised | 1 |
Belgium | Van Olmen Wynant | Recognised | 1 |
Canada | Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti | Leading (Ontario) | 2 |
France | Flichy Grangé Avocats | Leading | 3 |
Italy | LABLAW – Studio Legale | Leading | 4 |
Mexico | Natividad Abogados | Highly recommended | 1 |
New Zealand | Swarbrick Beck Mackinnon | Recommended | 1 |
Poland | A Sobczyk & Wspólpracownicy | Highly recommended | 1 |
USA | Jackson Lewis | Recommended (nationwide for employment and international employment advice) Recognised (DC: Washington) Recommended (GA: Atlanta) Recommended (IL: Chicago - employment and employee benefits) Recognised (NY: New York - employment) Recognised (Texas) | 6 |
Recommended in 10 countries | 3 Leading firm endorsements | 21 lawyers recommended worldwide |