Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has appointed partner Gwen Senlanne as its new global head of people & reward, effective 15 July. Gwen will succeed Boris Dzida who has completed his term and will return to focusing on his practice at the firm.
Having joined the firm’s people & reward practice group in Paris in 2001, Gwen became a partner at Freshfields six years later. He specialises in all employment and labour-related issues arising from M&As, company reorganisations, global investigations, and other sensitive employment law matters, including litigation.
Freshfields Senior Partner Georgia Dawson commented: “I’m delighted to announce the appointment of Gwen Senlanne to lead our global people & reward team and look forward to supporting him in his strategic leadership of the practice.
“Our people & reward team is a market leader in addressing employment-issues across sectors, including advising on workplace modernization and cross-border transactions. Gwen brings significant experience to this role, which underlines the strong pool of talent we can draw upon at Freshfields for key leadership positions. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the contribution made by our incumbent head Boris Dzida, who played a leading role in driving the strategic growth of the practice.”
Freshfields Partner Gwen Senlanne said: “I look forward to assuming the global leadership of the people & reward practice and continuing to work alongside my talented colleagues to address our clients’ most complex and sensitive employment and labour related issues. I would like to acknowledge Boris for his support in the transition and for his leadership of the practice during his tenure.
“Our people & reward team brings substantial expertise and is central to our clients’ efforts to navigate the challenges that arise from workplace modernisation, transformative M&As, compensation and benefits matters and cross-border reorganisations. With market conditions tightening, our team of experts at Freshfields is needed more than ever to help our clients navigate the forthcoming issues which inevitably develop. I’m excited to drive that expertise forward together.”
Freshfields’ people & reward team has delivered notable client advisory work in the past 12 months, including advising Google on its $5.4 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Mandiant Inc., Stanley Black and Decker on the worldwide sale of its 7,600 employee-electronic security and healthcare businesses to Securitas, and a market leading pharma company on people integration issues in 50+ jurisdictions following a significant acquisition.
