Photo of Agnes Herwig

Agnes Herwig

Counsel
Baker McKenzie Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH von Rechtsanwälten und Steuerberatern

Biography

Agnes Herwig is a counsel in the Firm's Frankfurt office. Agnes is a recognized employment specialist, focusing on future of work topics such as the use of artificial intelligence, pay transparency and equal pay as well as employment aspects of corporate reorganizations. Agnes initially joined Baker McKenzie in 2017 and can also leverage her in-house experience at one of the leading e-commerce companies, where she was involved in transactions and led global employment projects on the in-house side. Her experience is complemented by insights from her MBA studies in HR management and talent management. Agnes has been recognized by Best Lawyers/Handelsblatt as a "One to Watch" for Employment Law and M&A in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Practice Focus

Agnes Herwig advises companies on all labor and employment-related matters, particularly on employment agreements and service contracts for executives, employee benefits and compensation as well as employment litigation. She also provides legal support to companies in conjunction with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and works council issues. Agnes also advises on global mobility topics in the field of employment, social security and immigration law.

Representative Legal Matters

  • Advised Sika as part lead employment counsel team on its successful EUR 5.3 billion acquisition of MBCC Group from Lone Star. The deal saw Baker McKenzie coordinate with six major regulators to align behind a global timeline to remove competition concerns and divest MBCC's concrete admixtures business to the international private equity investor Cinven. Agnes led the employment workstream in several European jurisdictions and coordinated employment advice from over 40 jurisdictions. On the employment side, the main challenges were the coordination of the communication and negotiation with the employee representative bodies in several jurisdictions.
  • Advised SAP SE as lead employment counsel on the global carve-out and EUR 225 million sale of its digital interconnect business to Sinch AB (a Swedish software company). Agnes coordinated advice in over 20 jurisdictions with specific focus on employee transfers, transitional services arrangements and retention of key personnel.
  • Advised pharmaceutical and life science company Bayer AG on German employment topics in connection with its divestment of its Currenta shared to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.
  • Advised VINCI Energies S.A. on the German employment aspects on the acquisition of significant parts of the IT services business of Kontron AG. The transaction included the business in Germany, Switzerland, Poland and eight other countries in Central and Eastern Europe with revenues of EUR 360 million and 1,600 employees.
  • Regularly advising international companies to facilitate the mobility of foreign employees to and from Germany and enabling employees to work from abroad.

Professional Honors

  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch (Anwälte der Zukunft) for Labor and Employment Law, Best Lawyers/Handelsblatt 2021, 2022 and 2023

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • German Bar Association
  • Deutsch-Amerikanische Juristen-Vereinigung e.V.
  • Heidelberg Alumni International

Admissions

  • Germany (2017)

Education

  • Fachanwältin für Arbeitsrecht (Attorney Specializing in Labor and Employment Law) (2020)
  • Higher Regional Court of Dresden (Assessor Exam) (2016)
  • University of Heidelberg (Referendar Exam) (2014)

Languages

  • English
  • German
  • Co-author (with Anahita Thoms, Alexander Wolff, Kimberley Fischer): HR leaders' role towards ethical AI integration (January 2024)
  • Co-author (with Katja Häferer): Neue Engelttransparenz fordert Unternehmen heraus (Börsen-Zeitung, July 2023)
  • Co-author, The Global Employer: Focus on Global Immigration & Mobility, Editions 2020 - 2024
  • Co-author, Employee Benefits within the Financial Services Industry: Balancing COVID-19 Relief with EU Remuneration Rules (May 2020)
  • Co-author (with Katja Häferer), German Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Waives Requirement of Prior A1 Certificates for Short Notice and Short-Term Business Trips to Germany (June 2019)
  • Co-author, Lexology Outsourcing Navigator (February 2019) Author, Flexible Arbeitszeiten: Arbeitgebern drohen Bußgelder (Baker McKenzie Kompass) (July 2017)
  • Co-author (with Gregor Dornbusch) EuGH: Kopftuchverbot im privaten Unternehmen Urteil vom 14.3.2017 - C-188/165 (IWRZ 2017, 129) (June 2017)