International committee

The key aims of the international committee are as follows:
1. To bring an international perspective to bear on key UK employment law legislative, caselaw and practical developments and help ELA members understand the impact of such developments to their daily working practices;
2. To leverage the committee’s experience of working on mandates involving jurisdictions outside the UK in delivering training and content for members; and
3. To build relationships with employment lawyer networks around the world for the benefit of ELA and its members.

The international committee is committed, as ELA is, to promoting law that works without favouring any political party, employers or employees. We pride ourselves on our objectivity, balance and constructive approach to the development of good, practical law.

ELA’s international committee also works closely with ELA’s other committees and regional representatives to support international aspects of their work. The committee has a uniquely collaborative role as our work touches all of ELA’s other committees. 

Our activities currently include the following:

Information and training: We support international contributions to ELA Briefing and provide training for members on international topics, for example on individual countries’ employment laws, cross-border transactions, multi-jurisdictional disputes and global mobility.

We also support the training committee in provision of international content for the annual conference.

In light of the impact of Covid-19 we are actively supporting ELA ManCo to bring about permanent changes to the training programme, including the provision of more on-line training events to ELA members.

Consultation: We contribute to consultations on new UK laws with an international dimension.

EU: With Brexit comes a new chapter for our committee. Although Britain is scheduled to be out of the EU by the end of the year, nevertheless the ongoing impact of European law on employment law in the UK will continue to remain relevant and important for UK employment lawyers. The committee is committed to continuing to monitor EU legal developments and to bringing relevant insight on such developments to ELA members.

Relationships with employment lawyers in other jurisdictions: We are keen to develop and build on our existing relationships with national and international employment lawyers associations, for example, the European Employment Lawyers Association (EELA), American Bar Association (ABA), International Bar Association (IBA) and other global employment associations. This includes, for example, attendance at international meetings and conferences (at individual firms’ expense); and encouraging lawyers from other jurisdictions to join ELA as associate members and to participate in ELA events in the UK. ELA Members can find more information about international events and other associations at http://www.americanbar.org/groups/labor_law/committees/intcom/directory.html.

ELA members are particularly encouraged to participate in EELA’s annual conference given that the ELA Committee has worked hard to ensure that the UK is permitted to remain an EELA participant following Brexit.

Associate membership: ELA warmly welcomes employment lawyers from other jurisdictions as associate members. We are also keen to encourage collaboration between individual UK and lawyers from other jurisdictions. Please do attend our events in the UK – and if you need further information, introductions or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact members of the international committee. Joining information for associate members is available here.

Biennial transatlantic conference: We have for a number of years worked with the ABA to organise a joint conference in London (every other year).    This offers a fantastic opportunity for lawyers from the US, UK and other jurisdictions to share their common interests in international employment law and we are very grateful to the ABA for their continuing support.

Regions: We are particularly keen to meet international training needs in the regions. Please do contact your regional representative or any member of ELA’s International committee if you have suggestions.

Joining the international committee

We frequently receive enquiries about joining the international committee. Committee membership is open to all ELA members (including associate members), save that the elected Chair must be a full member.   We do not revisit membership very often because of the time involved in trying to deal with applications fairly. We normally notify all ELA members of our intention to revisit membership via ELA’s e-bulletins so that all interested ELA members have an opportunity to be considered for membership.    The Chair is elected every other year (as other Committee chairs). In May 2020 the Committee added 5 new members.

Comments and suggestions

Please do email comments and suggestions to the committee chair or any member of the committee. We appreciate feedback and want to hear about your needs and things we could do better. Please do fill in feedback forms when you attend our training sessions – written comments are particularly helpful in informing our efforts at improvement. We are your committee – please tell us what you want.

Committee Members

  • Chair: Kathleen Healy, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
  • Anna Birtwistle, Farrer & Co LLP
  • Rob Briggs, Bird & Bird LLP
  • Emily Chalkley, Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
  • Henry Clinton-Davis, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
  • Tessa Cranfield, King & Spalding International LLP
  • Claire Darwin KC, Matrix Chambers
  • Anna Dannreuther, Old Square Chambers
  • Rebecca Emmett, Rebecca Emmett Employment Law
  • Paul Goulding KC, Blackstone Chambers
  • Judith Harris, DLA Piper UK LLP
  • Toni Lorenzo, Lewis Silkin
  • Adrien Mallevays, Slaughter and May
  • Thomas McLaughlin, Brahams Dutt Badrick French LLP
  • Frank Morton, Mortonlaw
  • Qian Mou, Alibaba Group
  • Ingrid Nixon, Allen & Overy LLP
  • Marguerite Perin, KPMG
  • Amy Rogers, 11KBW
  • Paul Thompson, Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners
  • Nicola Whiteley, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (UK) LLP