United States: The Employer Rapport: Quick Chats for the US Workplace

Melissa Allchin is an Attorney in Baker McKenzie's Employment and Compensation Practice with more than eleven years of experience in corporate immigration law. She routinely advises multinational and domestic clients on the strategy, requirements, and procedures to secure visas and work and residence permits and satisfy employment eligibility and other immigration-related regulatory requirements for a global workforce. Melissa frequently speaks on global and US immigration and immigration compliance issues at Firm and client events geared towards global mobility, human resources, and legal professionals. She has been a Member of the Firm's Pro Bono and Diversity Committees.

Caroline Burnett is a Senior Knowledge Lawyer with the North America Employment & Compensation Practice Group. Caroline's primarily responsibility is to make knowledge easily available to lawyers within the North America Employment & Compensation Group, increasing the quality, consistency and cost-effectiveness of the advice that Baker McKenzie gives its clients
In addition to her focus on enhancing technical standards and improving efficiency, Caroline drafts drafting pragmatic and commercially-minded thought leadership for the Firm's clients. She identifies trends and developments impacting US multinationals to enable fee-earners in her practice group to better advise their clients on managing a global workforce. In 2017, Caroline launched the Employer Report blog, which provides legal updates and practical insights to help multinational employers understand, prepare for and respond to the latest domestic and cross-border labor and employment law changes.
Before joining Baker McKenzie, Caroline practiced labor and employment law for nearly a decade at major US law firms.

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JT Charron is an associate in Baker McKenzie's Chicago office and a member of the Firm’s Employment and Compensation Practice Group. Prior to joining the Firm, JT was an associate attorney with other leading law firms. Additionally, in 2015 JT advocated for disadvantaged children’s educational rights and interests at the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri's Children’s Legal Alliance and worked as Student Clinician at the Boesche Legal Clinic’s Immigrants Rights Project in 2014, where he represented refugees seeking asylum in the US.

Sofia is based in San Francisco, California and advises clients on a wide range of domestic and international employment-related matters, with emphasis on matters related to cross-border transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, reorganizations and post-acquisition integration.

Erik Christenson practices in the area of general international tax planning for businesses.

Joseph Deng is a partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice Group based in Baker McKenzie's Los Angeles office with a focus in global employment. With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Deng advises major U.S. and other multinational companies on employment matters around the world with a focus on Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. He has advised on workforce expansions, international transactions, employee transfers, workforce restructuring, codes of conduct, compliance matters and employee investigations with the only international law firm to be ranked Band 1 in both Global Employment and Global Immigration.

William (Bill) Dugan is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Employment and Compensation Practice Group, residing in Chicago and New York, chair of the US Disputes Employment Group, co-chair of the North American Employment Disputes Group, and a member of the Steering Committee for the North American Employment and Compensation Practice. Bill has been recognized as a leader in labor and employment law by Chambers, he has been repeatedly recognized for his superior litigation defense in Super Lawyers, and Legal 500 has stated that Bill is a “master in the art of defending corporations in litigation.” Bill represents management in complex litigation in federal and state courts and other tribunals throughout the United States, including trade secret and restrictive covenant matters, class and collective actions, and labor arbitrations. Bill also counsels employers on a wide range of Labor and Employment issues.

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Susan Eandi is the Chair of Baker McKenzie's North America Employment and Compensation Practice Group, head of the Global Employment and Labor Law Practice for North America, and a member of the North America Regional Management Council. She also serves on the Firm's Antiracism Legal Impact Board. Susan speaks regularly for organizations including ACC, Tech GC, Silicon Valley AGC and World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Susan publishes extensively in various external legal publications in addition to handbooks/magazines published by the Firm. Susan is a recognized leader in employment law by International Employment Lawyer, The Daily Journal, Legal 500 PLC and is a Chambers-ranked attorney.

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Elizabeth Ebersole is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Global Employment and Labor Law group. She focuses her practice on cross-border employment law advice across the entire spectrum of employment issues facing multinational employers. Ms. Ebersole has been published in various external legal publications in addition to handbooks/magazines published by the Firm. She was ranked one of the top employment and labor attorneys in Chicago by Super Lawyers.

Helena Engfeldt is an associate in Baker McKenzie's International/Commercial Practice Group in San Francisco. Before joining the Firm, she was a Fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. While attending Berkeley Law, Ms. Engfeldt was awarded the Dr. Tech. Marcus Wallenberg Foundation Fellowship and the Sweden America Foundation Fellowship.

Paul Evans is the New York and East Coast leader for the Employment & Compensation Practice Group, residing in Baker McKenzie's New York office. He is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Firm's North American Employment & Compensation Practice. For over 20 years, Paul's practice has included representation of employers at the US state, federal and appellate level in employment discrimination class actions, ERISA class actions, employment testing and validation matters, wage and hour class and collective actions, multiplaintiff and other complex labor and employment litigation.

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Aleesha Fowler is an associate in the Washington, DC office. She represents domestic and international corporate clients on a range of litigation and compliance matters, including criminal and civil investigations brought by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. She regularly advises clients on white collar criminal matters, and has significant experience in handling investigations that raise issues under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the US False Claims Act. Aleesha's pro bono practice is focused on providing legal advice and representation to incarcerated clients seeking parole and other available remedies.

Mark Goodman is a partner in the Firm's San Francisco office who serves as co-Chair of the firm’s North America Commercial Litigation group and is part of the North America Trial Team. Mark has led complex multidistrict litigation, handled class actions and tried cases in state and federal courts across the US for both domestic and international clients. Mark regularly presents on product liability, risk mitigation and cross-border disputes. Listed in Who's Who in American Law and a Fellow of the American Bar Association, Mark has been regularly recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer, a member of the Legal 500 and as a member of the International Who's Who of Professionals.

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Christopher G. Guldberg has been practicing in the employee benefits and executive compensation areas since 1992 and is a senior member of the Firm’s benefits practice. He is a member of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee, and serves as a volunteer advising attorney for the Center for Disability and Elderly Law. Mr. Guldberg is a regular contributing author to Corporate Taxation and is a co-editor of the Firm's Compensation & Benefits Quarterly Newsletter. Mr. Guldberg has spoken on numerous benefit topics including executive compensation, retirement and health plans and health care reform, employee benefits in mergers and acquisitions and employee benefit issues for multinational corporations.

Brian Hengesbaugh is Chair of the Firm's Global Data Privacy and Security Business Unit, a Member of the Firm's Global IP Tech Steering Committee, and a Member of the Firm's Financial Institutions' Group. Brian is listed in The Legal 500 Hall of Fame and was recognized as a Regulatory & Compliance Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. He is also listed as a Leading Lawyer for Cyber law (including data protection and privacy) in The Legal 500 and is listed in Chambers. Formerly Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the US Department of Commerce, Brian played a key role in the development and implementation of the US Government’s domestic and international policy in the area of privacy and electronic commerce. In particular, he served on the core team that negotiated the US-EU Safe Harbor Privacy Arrangement (Safe Harbor), and earned a Medal Award from the US Department of Commerce for this service. In addition, Brian participated on behalf of the United States in the development of a draft Council of Europe Treaty on Cyber Crime, and in the negotiation of a draft Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and the Recognition of Foreign Judgments. Brian has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, CNET, Slate Magazine, Compliance Weekly, BNA Bloomberg, PCWorld and other news publications on global privacy and security issues.

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Ben Ho advises clients on domestic and cross-border employment matters arising throughout the employment relationship. Mr. Ho also frequently counsels clients on employment law matters arising from domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and global corporate reorganizations.

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Krissy Katzenstein is a partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice Group in Baker McKenzie’s New York office. Krissy represents employers in a wide range of employment disputes, with a focus on class and collective actions involving systemic discrimination as well as federal and state agency investigations of systemic discrimination and harassment claims. Krissy was named a “Rising Star” in Employment Law by Law360 in 2019.

Jeff Martino brings an in-depth understanding of a wide variety of white collar and fraud related matters to his antitrust litigation and investigations practice. Jeff is co-lead of the Firm's Global Cartel Task Force and represents multinational corporations and their boards and executives in high-stakes criminal and civil investigations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal and state agencies Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Jeff spent nearly two decades at the DOJ and his last 7 years as a senior leader in two different DOJ components. He has extensive experience as “first chair” on trials and investigations in the most complex areas of criminal antitrust. Jeff's work at the DOJ included providing technical assistance to competition agencies in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe and overseeing matters that included international corruption and antitrust cartel offenses that entangled the largest global banks and their key executives.

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Teresa H. Michaud advises on all aspects of dispute resolution, primarily complex business disputes, class actions, intellectual property and international arbitration. She is the co-chair of the North American Class Action Subgroup and serves as a member of the Global Steering Committee of the Firm's Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Industry Group. She is admitted to practice in California, Texas and New York, and qualified in England and Wales. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US). Teresa is also one of the founding members of our Los Angeles office that opened in 2018.

Betsy Stelle Morgan is the head of Baker McKenzie's Global Immigration and Mobility Practice. Her work has been published extensively in US and international publications. She is ranked as a leading lawyer in Who’s Who in American Women and Who’s Who in the World and has been listed in Chambers Global. She is the founder and co-editor of Baker McKenzie’s Global Immigration & Mobility Update, which currently boasts a quarterly circulation of approximately 16,000, and is also a co-author of the Firm’s US Business Immigration Manual. Ms. Morgan was a member of the Chicago Management Committee with responsibility for the office’s Marketing & Business Development, Social Responsibility, Pro Bono, Diversity and Alumni Relations Programs.

Bradford Newman is a litigation partner resident in Baker McKenzie's Palo Alto Office and Chair of the North America Trade Secrets Practice. According to Chambers USA, Brad is a "recognized authority on trade secrets cases" who "is valued for his tenacious, intelligent and thoughtful approach to trade secrets matters." Bradford regularly serves as lead trial counsel in cases with potential eight and nine-figure liability, and has successfully litigated (both prosecuting and defending) a broad spectrum of trade secrets cases in state and federal courts throughout the country. He routinely advises and represents the world's leading technology, banking, professional service, manufacturing and commerce companies in connection with their most significant data protection and trade secret matters. Bradford is the author of Protecting Intellectual Property in the Age of Employee Mobility: Forms and Analysis, a comprehensive treatise published by ALM that offers authoritative guidance on legal risks and practical steps companies can take to protect their IP and remedy IP theft.

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Stephanie Priel is an associate in Baker McKenzie's Los Angeles office and is a member of the Firm’s labor and employment practice. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Stephanie worked as a labor and employment associate at an international law firm.

Blair Robinson is a partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice Group in Baker McKenzie's New York office. He is ranked in Chambers USA as a leading employment lawyer in New York. Blair represents clients on a broad range of labor and employment matters, including class/collective actions, high stakes individual plaintiff litigation and sensitive investigations involving senior executives.

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Robin Samuel is a partner in the Employment Practice Group of Baker McKenzie's Los Angeles office. Robin helps clients manage and resolve local and cross-border employment issues, whether through counseling or litigation. He advises clients on virtually all aspects of the employment relationship, including hiring and firing, wage and hour, discrimination, harassment, contract disputes, restrictive covenants, employee raiding, and trade secret matters. Clients trust Robin to handle their most sensitive and complex employment issues.

Autumn Sharp is a Knowledge Lawyer, in Baker McKenzie's Chicago office.

Katelyn is an Associate in the Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group assisting clients in complex civil litigation and government enforcement matters. Prior to joining the firm, Katelyn worked at a litigation firm where she focused on restrictive covenant, products liability, and shareholder dispute litigation.

Jeff Sturgeon is partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice group in Baker McKenzie's New York office. A skilled advisor and litigator, Jeff assists clients with their most complex employment matters.

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Kate Thompson is an associate in the Employment & Compensation Practice Group at Baker McKenzie's New York office.