Employment & Immigration Law Employee International Assignments:
Contractual & Legal Issues in a Mobile and Remote World

Frédérique is heading the employment law practice with Harlay Law in Paris, France. With her team, she advises companies (mostly multinationals) with respect to French employment law and social security law, including employment agreements, employee incentive programs (compensation plans, stock options, etc.), labor regulations applicable to the day to day operations of a company and to corporate reorganizations, as well as individual or collective termination procedures. Her activities also include relationships with labor unions, workers committees, employee representatives and labor inspectors, as well as labor law litigation.

Kumar has over 20 years’ experience in employment law and co-heads the Employment Practice Group in Skrine. He has acted as lead counsel in a full range of employment-related disputes as well as in transactional and advisory matters.

Apart from employment law, Kumar also heads the Maritime and Shipping practice group at Skrine and has acted in many major maritime related disputes. He also has a corporate/commercial litigation and arbitration practice and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Carolyn Knox is a shareholder in the Cross-Border Practice Group at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., a labor and employment firm with offices throughout the US, as well as in Canada, Mexico and Europe. Carolyn has broad experience in both US and cross-border employment issues. Over the course of her career, she has practiced in the US, Europe, and Brazil. She regularly provides advice and counsel on cross-border human resources law issues to HR professionals and in-house employment counsel managing workforces outside of their home countries. Her focus has always been on helping international companies find strategic and business-oriented solutions to their cross-border employment challenges.

Carolyn’s expertise includes development and roll-out of global and regional handbooks and employment policies and procedures, codes of conduct, workplace investigations, employment agreements, commercial representative agreements, workplace audits, employee benefit plans, hiring and termination issues, and M&A due diligence. In addition, her strong litigation background enables Carolyn to identify issues and manage litigation outside the US.

Carolyn has been a frequent speaker to human resources associations, in-house counsel associations, bar associations and media companies on local and cross-border employment and benefits issues. She is the current chair of the Employment and Immigration Committee of the IPBA and active in and holds leadership positions in key international legal organizations including the International Bar Association, American Bar Association Section of International Law, and the Bar Association of San Francisco section of international law and practice.

Carolyn is admitted to practice in all federal and state courts in California, the U.S. Supreme Court, and was a Registered Foreign Legal Consultant, Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB) in Rio de Janeiro.

Jose Cochingyan III is the founder and Managing Partner of Cochingyan & Partners Law Offices, a Philippine-based, full-service business law firm that has gained international recognition and prominence in the field of cross-border transactions under his leadership.

He has advised many globally renowned multi-national companies in his more than 30 years of professional practice with considerable expertise in all kinds of corporate structures and commercial transactions, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, intellectual property law, environmental compliance, commercial disputes, corporate taxation, immigration, and labor legislation.

Key engagements that he has advised on are summarized below:

• Completion of several notable strategic transactions providing the full range of legal services from due diligence to sale & purchase agreement
• Provided advice and guidance in optimal corporate structures in the Philippines compliant with both foreign equity questions and global corporate policy and which maximize investment incentives for foreign investors where available.
• Directed and participated in numerous commercial disputes for the clients of the firm.
• Establishment of enhanced corporate compliance systems for the Philippine operations of several European based multi-nationals
• Provision of taxation services ranging from disputes and litigation to refunds and tax treaty reliefs.

He has been a member and officer of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association since 2006. He is currently the Secretary General of the IPBA. Prior to this, he held several positions in the association. He was co-chair of the Cross-Border Investment Committee from 2011 to 2015 and Program Coordinator from 2017 to 2019. He is also the President of the Immigration Lawyers Association of the Philippines. In addition to his professional practice, Mr. Cochingyan currently lectures at the Ateneo de Manila School of Law on Special Problems in Business Law, Corporate Finance, and Agency, Trust, Partnership, and Agency Law Joint Ventures. He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines, College of Law.

Hiroyuki Kanae focuses on mergers and acquisitions, labor and employment law, ranging from the regulatory compliance matters to dispute resolution. In particular, he has expertise in cross-border aspect of the above practice area not only in Europe and the North America but also in APAC countries by collaborating with rich overseas networks in the industry areas of semi-conductor, high tech, nano-tech, aviation and space, pharmaceutical, medical and software industries. Through the experience of a member of the audit and supervisory board of a Japanese TSE listed company that has been seeking the global strategy, he advises on the real need of management strategy, involving the corporate and employment aspects.

Richard is the founder and first Chairman of the Immigration & Nationality Committee of both The International Bar Association as well as The Inter Pacific Bar Association.

Richard began his own law firm in New York in 1979 and began yearly travel to Japan in 1980 as well as regular travel every three months to the UK where he has maintained an associated office presence since the late 1980’s. His legal work is exclusively U.S. immigration law and business visas and his own primary focus is European and Asian client development as well as consular practice primarily at the U.S. Embassy in London as well as in Tokyo. He is the Senior Partner of his law firm and his U.S. firm’s operations are managed by his Partner Tammy Lee who has worked with him for the last twenty six years.