Joanna is a strategic lawyer with over a decade of City employment law experience, primarily in acting for large employers in the financial services, professional services and technology sectors. Joanna has also completed in-house assignments as an Executive Reward Partner in the Global HR division of a FTSE 5 global bio-pharmaceutical company and as Employment Counsel on client secondments for two European investment banks and a global professional services firm.

Joanna has a specialism in senior executive disputes, with experience of handling breach of contract, unfair dismissal and discrimination claims, in addition to injunctive relief and executive remuneration matters. Joanna is commercial and sensitive in handling settlement agreements. Where matters cannot be resolved pragmatically, she is well-placed to litigate with English Court experience spanning the Employment Tribunal, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Joanna has also worked on disputes with a cross-border angle.

Joanna has undertaken a range of work in the realm of the protection of business interests including High Court experience of team move disputes, leading to bringing and defending committal proceedings against insurance brokers in the UK and defending an alleged team move in Dubai. Her in-house project work has included rolling out restrictive covenants to a global executive population of 240 across 27 jurisdictions. She has also worked on a matter involving a debt claim against a senior employee linked to his Dubai assignment as part of a wider unfair dismissal claim.

Joanna’s executive reward business partnering role for a listed company required her to advise the CEO, Remuneration Committee and business unit on the global hire, promotion and exit of senior executives, including pay benchmarking and stock buyout data analysis, in addition to drafting their offer and exit letters. She has also worked with private counsel to update a complex suite of Share Plan Rules for CEO and Remuneration Committee approval.

Joanna has also advised clients on matters relating to financial services regulation (eg regulatory references) and data protection law (eg DSARs), particularly where linked to litigation cases. Her broader employment law experience includes general advisory work and employment matters linked to M&A and corporate restructurings.

Joanna has an interest in diversity and inclusion, particularly where linked to corporate governance. She has been involved in 30% Club City-wide initiatives to increase representation of women on Boards including a working party  to improve various business practices across City law and accountancy firms. Joanna is a member of the Employment Law Association.