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Caroline Noblet
Partner
Caroline Noblet is based in our London office, with more than 30 years of experience as an employment lawyer, advising global companies in the FTSE 350 and those headquartered in the US and Asia. She has always worked internationally, leading multipractice teams working on local and multijurisdictional HR projects.
Caroline has been named in The Lawyer’s Hot 100, which celebrates the most daring, innovative and creative lawyers from in-house, private practice and the Bar. This was in recognition of her work in leading the development of innovative employment law products and services at the firm, e.g. the award winning Global Edge and HR audit compliance tools, which are designed to provide up-to-date employment advice for international companies, provide horizon scanning support across the world and map out an employment document framework in each country.
Caroline’s practice reflects the strength and diversity of her client base. Representing global clients on cross-border employment matters, she deals with rationalisation and restructuring programmes (working with trade unions and works councils, the application of the Acquired Rights Directive and local equivalents), contract and policy rollouts, and the employment aspects of privacy and data protection matters.
Caroline also advises clients on the entry and departure of senior individuals and members of the board, including remuneration, incentives, protection mechanisms and severance requirements. She regularly works together with our Litigation team to enforce and defend garden leave, confidentiality, and restrictive covenant obligations.
Passionate about environmental, social and governance (ESG), Caroline has consulted boards, in-house counsel and chief human resources officers (CHROs) on people and governance related matters, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) reporting and supply chain impact.
Whistleblowing issues continue to be a challenge to all corporates, ranging from frauds to bullying and harassment matters. Caroline has supported clients in leading investigations and separately advising on whistleblowing matters on a domestic and international basis. Having in place training modules is key to minimising subsequent litigation. With the firm’s white collar team, Caroline has developed and delivered in-house training, along with firm team members, to HR, operational and legal teams, focusing on the practical aspects of investigations.
- Supporting a global telecommunications company on a number of its internal investigations, developing protocols, including a triage system, together with an in-country training programme, to ensure a time- and cost-efficient and consistent approach to investigations, with effective monitoring on complaint outcomes and appropriate remedial support.
- Advising on high court disputes concerning senior executives’ breaches of confidence and fiduciary duties, and the enforcement of restrictive covenants and confidentiality obligations.
- Advising a range of professional services clients on the contractual and other legal implications of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) (and, where relevant, the local equivalent) in relation to multijurisdictional contracts and associated litigation.
- Advising CHROs, in-house counsel and the C-suite on the contractual framework, incentive requirements and reporting for their senior and board hires, and subsequently on all aspects of their departure.
- Working with its headquarters’ legal and HR team in the US, Caroline led and coordinated a team of employment and data protection lawyers in advising a global professional services organisation on a time-sensitive and confidential reorganisation and rationalisation programme in 15 jurisdictions across its Western and Central European operations.
- Advising a multinational life science company in its restructuring of its HR function across the world, using Global Edge and other tech products to advise on initial steps and map out timelines, to ensure the project was delivered ahead of time and the client could capitalise on any necessary savings.
- Advising corporates on global contract and policy rollouts across multiple countries, using tech products such as clause base to support the lawyer input. The intent of these projects is to ensure a consistent global contractual brand in terms of content, layout and tone, as well as ensuring effective and enforceable protection matrices were in place.
Education
- College of Law, Chester, J.D., 1988
- University of Manchester, 1988
Admissions
- England and Wales, 1991
- Ranked as a leading individual in The Legal 500 2022
- “The team under Caroline Noblet’s leadership is focused on building a trusted partnership relationship, they are very collaborative and responsive.” The Legal 500
- “Caroline Noblet is energetic, passionate and commercially focussed. She builds and leads a diverse team and is very responsive to customer needs.” The Legal 500
- “Caroline Noblet is a force to be reckoned with. She is incredibly commercial and steers the global team to ensure a consistency of approach in terms of commercialism, pragmatism and even billing.” The Legal 500 UK
- “She is extremely personable and client-centric, and a very commercial and pragmatic lawyer.”
“She is extremely knowledgeable and pragmatic.”
“She’s very commercial, highly experienced and a pleasure to work with.”
Client quotes, Chambers UK - “Caroline is a great partner who is always available as a sounding board and provides great advice and support.” Chambers
- “Caroline is an outstanding client partner. She thinks about what matters to me and my organisation, makes an effort to be in regular contact and suggests areas where we might want help.” Chambers
- “Caroline is a truly amazing lawyer who understands the realities of decision-making and is extraordinarily insightful on human behaviour.” Chambers
- “Caroline is always excellent. She is pragmatic, commercial and timely with her advice. She is also strong on agreeing overall strategy and desired outcomes, as well as on the detail.” Chambers UK
- “Caroline is a committed strategic partner who is consistently reliable and will always go the extra mile for us. We rely a lot on her commercial strategic views.” Chambers UK