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ANNA BIRTWISTLE

Partner
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Anna Birtwistle is a Partner specialising in partnership and employment law.

Anna has an excellent reputation for advising multi-national clients, most notably those with parent companies headquartered in the US.  She advises on a wide range of issues affecting their UK employees including day-to-day HR counselling, individual and group redundancies, misconduct investigations and underperformance.

Anna regularly represents clients in litigation involving unfair dismissal, discrimination and whistleblowing complaints.

Anna provides legal and strategic advice to senior executives and founders, particularly in relation to high value negotiated exits, complex cross-border discrimination issues and on the enforceability of restrictive covenants.

Anna also advises professional practices (including law firms) and their equity partners in relation to exits, restrictive covenants, and conduct and performance issues.

Anna has a particular interest in complex discrimination claims and has specialist knowledge of partner discrimination and whistleblowing issues and related cross-border jurisdictional issues.

Anna is a proficient Japanese speaker.

REPUTATION, NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS

unflinching and tenacious

Chambers & Partners 2017 (Employment – Senior Executives):

Anna Birtwistle has been described as “a champion among lawyers,” with clients valuing “her ability to communicate in a way clients can take on board.”  She regularly assists senior executives from large corporations on a range of disputes.

Legal 500 2016 (Employment):

“professional and extremely knowledgeable”

Chambers & Partners 2016 (Employment):

“experienced and savvy”

“unflinching and tenacious”

Legal 500 2015 (Employment):

Anna Birtwistle is mentioned for being “promoted to the partnership in May 2015.”

Who’s Who Legal 2015

Anna Birtwistle is listed in Who’s Who Legal 2015 under the Management Labour & Employment Law section. Who’s Who Legal describes Anna as having “a particular interest in discrimination issues”.

Anna was the winner of the Lawyer Monthly “Women in Law Award” for her work in the Management Labour and Employment sector in 2014.

Anna was awarded the Finance Monthly Award for UK Labour & Employment Lawyer of the Year 2016.

POSITIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
  • Co-Chair of the International Employment Committee for the ABA Section of International Law.
  • Co-Chair of the Human Rights Committee and Member of the Extended Bureau of AIJA (International Association of Young Lawyers).
  • Co-Chair of the UK Chapter of the New York State Bar Association International Section.
  • UK country representative and liaison to the Law Society for the ABA Section of International Law.
  • Member of the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA).
  • Member of the Association of Partnership Practitioners.
RECENT MATTERS

Employment Law:

  • Anna Birtwistle provides UK employment law advice to, and co-ordinates legal advice across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa for a global outsourcing HR and benefits provider, including on setting up operations in the UK.
  • Anna Birtwistle advised a global luxury brand on setting up operations in the UK and continues to provide day-to-day HR and employment law assistance to the client.
  • Anna Birtwistle is currently representing Public Concern at Work on its planned intervention in the Court of Appeal in the case of Chesterton Global Limited v Nurmohamed which is the test case in establishing the meaning of “in the public interest” which was inserted as a new requirement into UK whistleblowing legislation in 2013.
  • Anna Birtwistle advises an international technology company headquartered in Sweden on their UK employment law needs including in relation to international assignments and employee exits.
  • Anna Birtwistle advised the CEO of a public company on their terms of employment and in particular, on complex incentive arrangements.
  • Anna Birtwistle advised a senior banker employed by an international investment bank in the context of regulatory investigations being conducted in both the UK and the US.

Partnership Law:

  • Anna advised a multi-national law firm on the significant underperformance of a number of UK partners and on managing the risk of potential discrimination issues.
  • Anna advised a UK equity partner on their exit from an international firm to join a competitor giving rise to a dispute concerning breach of restrictive covenants, including prohibitions on team moves, which resulted in arbitration proceedings.
  • Anna advised a US attorney working for a global firm on their resignation to join a US firm and the interplay between their extensive English partnership obligations and foreign bar ethical obligations.
  • Anna advised a senior equity partner threatened with expulsion in relation to alleged conduct issues and on their subsequent exit on agreed terms.

Pro-Bono

  • Anna provides ongoing advice and support to the leading UK whistleblowing charity, Public Concern at Work.
SEMINARS ALERTS