Venable's Labor and Employment practice regularly crosses borders. When our clients hire U.S. citizens to work abroad, frequently they must comply with U.S. employment laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as well as foreign employment laws. In these situations, clients need U.S. employment lawyers who can coordinate efforts with foreign counsel.
When a client is recruiting an employee or negotiating a merger or acquisition, that coordination must happen fast. Sometimes a client needs a quick consultation with foreign employment counsel to learn what issues, if any, may exist under foreign employment law and to determine whether the client needs to retain foreign counsel. Our employment lawyers have the kinds of relationships that can make that call happen quickly. Venable regularly does business in 80-100 countries a year through its network of international relationships. Our employment lawyers are an integral part of those relationships, and are a source of many of those relationships.
We work with distinguished employment counsel in firms around the globe to provide prompt and efficient service. These long-standing relationships often are personal as well as professional – our lawyers actually know the foreign lawyers with whom they collaborate, building strong ties through international organizations, shared clients, common educational experiences, or other opportunities.
Similarly, Venable's employment lawyers link our clients to foreign counsel when the issues are purely "local." We frequently function as the "general contractor" who assembles and supervises a team of foreign employment lawyers in multiple jurisdictions. It’s easier for our clients to talk to one of us than to several foreign lawyers in several different time zones. And it's often easier to receive one consolidated invoice.