Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA)

The firm: Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA) is a law firm exclusively dedicated to employment law and other areas impacting human resources management. Over the past 30 years, the firm has experienced a strong growth and is now located in Lyon, in Paris, in Nice-Sophia Antipolis as well as in Casablanca and Tangiers, Algiers and Tunis. CWA brings together over 60 lawyers providing legal advice, accompanying and representing companies during litigations, and developing and conducting professional training.

CWA provides companies with strong support at all stages of the employment relation, be it individual or collective employment relations, either in the daily management of human resources and in the framework of large scale operations (restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, sales, outsourcing).

CWA defends its clients throughout all aspects of litigation, whether individual or collective. Given the increasing criminalization of business law in general and labour law in particular, CWA has developed an expertise in employment criminal law to handle this type of litigation.

Because all human resources professionals need to constantly update their knowledge of employment law, CWA deploys all its knowledge and experience to provide tailor-made training sessions, bringing functional and innovative solutions.

Areas of practice: Thanks to its wide experience and multilingual skills, CWA provides legal advice to major international groups or SMEs, which benefit both from the very personalized follow-up of a specifically dedicated lawyer and from the expertise of the entire firm through its highly technical expertise hubs.

Restructuring/M&A: the firm is involved in restructuring operations, such as business transfers, mergers and acquisitions or outsourcing operations. It addresses all matters: works council consultation, legal due diligence reports, impact of business transfers on employees, or elaboration and implementation of redundancy plans, negotiation of management packages.

Employment collective relations: a partner of companies and/or employer organizations, CWA brings its knowledge of legislation and case law, its responsiveness, and its analysis to help master the management of working relations, including the implementation of staff representative institutions.

Compensation and profit sharing: CWA assists its clients in remuneration strategies, including incentive plans (bonus, stock-option plans, profit-sharing, savings plans), taking into account the legal environment for social and tax optimization, and the specific clients' constraints and needs. (notably in cases of mergers or any other restructuring operations.)

Pensions and welfare protection: CWA also assists companies during the implementation or modification of retirement plans, supplementary healthcare schemes or death-incapacity-disability schemes. It has also developed a wide expertise in end-of-career plans (pre-retirement, proactive planning on employment and careers, etc).

Social security: CWA offers its expertise and understanding of the impact of social security regulations on the application of social security rules and the inspections of companies. It supports companies in the implementation of these rules and in the decision-making process.

Health and safety at work: the firm adapts to legal developments during the development and follow-up of the occupational hazards prevention policy and in the conduct of relations with the health and safety committee. Its experience allows CWA to accompany its clients at the pre-litigation and litigation stages.

International mobility: CWA has developed expertise and assists clients in their international development with constant focus on the safety of the solutions advocated. CWA’s transversal team, dedicated to international mobility, works in connection with a network of foreign lawyers able to assist clients in managing their employee mobility.