Profile details
About Gwen Senlanne
Avocat à la cour, Gwen is a partner in our people and reward practice and a member of our global investigations group. He is the global head of our People and Reward practice group.
He has significant experience in dealing with all employment-related issues arising in the context of mergers and acquisitions, cross-border transactions, company restructurings and collective dismissals.
He advises major French and international corporations in a wide range of sectors, including pharmaceuticals and financial services. He also has significant expertise in dealing with sensitive employment issues, including the departure of senior executives, the design and implementation of compensation packages, and fraud investigations.
In addition to the advisory side of his work, Gwen has a litigation practice that specialises in disputes involving unions, works councils and senior employees. He has also developed a strong practice in relation to global internal investigations.
Gwen is fluent in French and English.
Recent work
- Advising Boehringer Ingelheim on the employment aspects (particularly employee representative consultation requirements and employee transfer matters) of the strategic global swap of its consumer healthcare business with Sanofi’s animal health business in 49 jurisdictions, including France.
- Advising Bristol-Myers Squibb on a number of local and international HR legal projects, including: the employment aspects of its internal reorganisation and associated collective redundancies; two parallel social plans of two of its French companies (Bristol-Myers Squibb SARL and UPSA); the sale of its global diabetes business to AstraZeneca in 2014; and the setting up of its diabetes commercial alliance with AstraZeneca.
- Advising The Carlyle Group, a leading private equity fund, on its $3.2bn acquisition of Atotech from Total, the French integrated oil and gas company.
- Advising EDF on the acquisition of a majority stake in Areva NP.
- Advising Holcim (and now LafargeHolcim) on the worldwide employment law aspects of its merger with Lafarge (and in particular on the works council consultation issues arising at each step of the implementation of the merger). We also provided strategic advice to Holcim on pre- and post-merger potential issues in relation to European works council and global trade unions matters.
- Advising Ardian Infrastructure on its proposed acquisition of two French airports (Lyon Saint-Exupéry and Nice-Côte d’Azur) in the context of their privatisation, including the structuration of their offers and the employment aspects of the transactions.
Qualifications
Education
- University of Paris XII, France (maîtrise de droit des affaires and DESS de juriste d’affaires)
Professional qualifications
- Admitted to the Paris Bar
Professional memberships
- European Employment Law Association