Bettina is a Partner and specialises in employment and partnership law.

She has long-standing experience in providing commercial and strategic advice to a range of UK and multinational businesses and professional service firms, as well as senior executives, founders and partners.

In Chambers & Partners 2023 Bettina is individually ranked in Band One in the ‘Partnerships – Contentious’ category and is also ranked as a leading individual for her work for Senior Executives. Sources describe her as “an extremely knowledgeable employment adviser. She is always over the detail and provides commercially focused expert advice. She ensures that her clients receive timely, thought-through and commercial legal advice” and “Bettina is an excellent lawyer. She is strong and commercial.”

Bettina is recommended in Legal 500 2023 – Partnership and described as a “a knowledgeable and impressive lawyer” and “empathetic and commercial and she makes a very difficult situation easier to handle.”

Bettina has also been recognised by Who’s Who Legal: Labour and Employment for 2021 and by Best Lawyers® in the 11^th edition of the Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom for Employment law 2022.

Bettina has a wealth of experience in providing contentious partnership law advice to both partners and LLP members, as well as to professional service firms. Bettina has extensive experience in advising on restrictive covenants and team moves and negotiating partner exits, both in the legal and financial services sectors, as well as advising in the context of discrimination and whistleblowing complaints. Bettina regularly advises on misconduct investigations (including sexual harassment and misconduct and bullying allegations). She also acts as independent investigator, conducting the investigation process and related interviews, and compiling the investigation report, including recommendations.

Bettina provides contentious and non-contentious employment law advice to multinational employer clients. She specialises in providing day-to-day UK employment law advice to multinational employer clients on risk and strategic HR issues relating to their UK workforce, particularly in relation to internal investigations, disciplinary and grievance procedures, whistleblowing and discrimination claims and exits, as well as restructuring and redundancy exercises. She also regularly advises senior executives and founders in relation to their potential legal claims, negotiated departures and contractual terms.

Bettina is bilingual in English and German and acts for many German multinationals with UK operations, and German senior executives (advising them in German).

Recent Experience

Employment

• Providing legal and tactical advice to the trustees of a Charity to procure the departure of their Chief Executive Officer on favourable agreed terms, in the context of bullying allegations and long-standing performance concerns
• Acting for the former Chief Executive Officer, founder, employee and shareholder of an Events Agency in High Court proceedings brought against him by his former company, for alleged breach of restrictive covenants and confidentiality obligations
• Advising the Chief Executive Officer of an international storage and supply business in the context of a share sale of the Group to new US owners and providing further advice on restrictive covenant obligations in the context of possible future roles

Partnership

• Advising a US law firm on the legal position and strategic approach to mitigate risk in the context of a team acquisition from a competitor firm.
• Advising a partner of a US law firm following the issue of notice and being placed on garden leave and assisting to negotiate a partial release from client restrictive covenants to assist with securing a new position
• Advising a senior equity partner of an international law firm to successfully resist moves by the firm to secure an early retirement from the equity

Pro bono

• Bettina provides longstanding ongoing pro-bono employment law advice and support to domestic violence charity, Refuge