Susan Fanning

Further examples of Susan’s work include:

• Advising Travelex on its financial and operational restructuring.
• Advising Blackbaud, Inc., on its acquisition of JustGiving, a leading UK-based online charity crowdfunding platform.
• Advising Buckthorn Partners on its acquisition of TWMA Group Limited, a drilling waste management and solutions provider.
• Advising TowerBrook Structured Opportunities (Onshore), L.P. (TSO) and its affiliated funds on its investment in Gravity Media Group Limited (Gravity).
• Advising Independent Clinical Services (ICS), a portfolio company of TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P., on its acquisition of Liquid Personnel Limited (LPL). 
• Advising a major pharmaceutical company on the closure of its research and development facility in the UK. The project lasted nearly a year and involved extensive negotiations with the unions and the employee forum. The project also covered detailed advice on outsourcing projects with CROs and MBO processes initiated by several research teams. The closure was achieved without any claims.
• Advising a committee of the board of a listed company in the conduct and management of an investigation of a whistleblowing allegation of sexual harassment made by a director during a sale process. The matter was successfully mediated internally without recourse to external authorities and with no impact on the sale process.
• Advising a major low-cost carrier airline on the comparative law and regulation in major EU jurisdictions on traditional atypical employment models.
• Conducting a risk assessment for a large pharmaceutical company on its use of agency and third-party staff. The assessment covered employment law risk, employment tax exposure and the security of confidential information.
• Assisting the HR department of a large pharmaceutical company in the development of its internal response and communication systems in response to whistleblowing allegations received from its hotline.
• Advising on all aspects of employment law issues in the life sciences and other industries.
• Formulating a reporting template, protocol and investigatory framework for two major pharmaceutical companies in respect of the UK Modern Slavery Act. In one case, this included initial training for the HR, Legal and Procurement groups.
• Designing and coordinating employment law aspects (disciplinary interviews) of an investigation in China into the bribery of doctors and hospitals for a multi-national pharmaceutical company. The matter involved issues of both Chinese and UK employment law.
• Conducting the investigation of a whistleblowing allegation for a U.S. medical devices company into the theft of company and customer data in France and Germany. This involved the oversight of complex data protection issues in France and referral to the state prosecutor in Germany.
• Advising a major pharmaceutical company on the disciplinary aspects of an investigation into the conduct of a clinical trial by a partner Contract Research Organisation (CRO).
• Defending a major pharmaceutical company against a claim of employee status from a worker engaged by a CRO. The case was settled satisfactorily and led to a review of the client’s onboarding and oversight systems with respect to third-party staff working on site.
• Coordinating the implementation of a global non-compete policy for the sales force of an international medical devices company. The project involved handling the “triage” of issues in their initial stages in conjunction with the HR and Legal functions, as well as drafting and updating of the policy itself. 

*Some of the above matters were handled by Susan prior to joining Sidley.

• Member of the Employment Lawyers Association.
• Susan served as a member of a sub-committee of the Employment Lawyers Association which reviewed the draft Agency Workers Regulations and which provided comments to the UK government as part of the consultation process. 
• Served as a member of the management committee for the Leadership Alliance for Women in another international law firm prior to joining Sidley.
• Served as the lead for global employment law issues for the Life Sciences Group of another international law firm prior to joining Sidley.