Aerige Avocats

The firm: ærige (ex brl Avocats) is an independent firm that specialises in French labour and employment law. The firm was founded in 2001 in Paris. ærige has regional offices that enable it to cover the entire French territory. ærige currently has 12 partners and about 60 lawyers in total who provide counsel, litigation and training services to French and international corporate clients.

The firm advises on all aspects of collective and individual employment relationships. ærige can scale its services to provide quality, timely assistance with individual cases, day-to-day compliance matters and major workforce changes. The firm’s experienced litigators represent clients before all the French labour, employment and social security courts, including for appeals.

ærige provides pragmatic, risk-sensitive solutions based on in-depth knowledge of its clients and of the business environments in which they operate. The firm can also meet the specific requirements of international clients, and offers fluent services in English, German and Spanish.

ærige offers a variety of bespoke training programmes to companies and hosts monthly webinars on current legal affairs. The firm is a Qualiopi certified training services provider.

Areas of practice: ærige provides advice, litigation and training services to French and foreign corporate clients, ranging from French SMEs to multinational groups.

Assistance with the employment-related consequences of restructurings: ærige advises on all stages of employee transfers, mass layoffs, voluntary redundancies and site closures. Clients benefit from comprehensive legal services, starting with a risk analysis of the rationale for the project and continuing through to assistance with implementation and representation in post-restructuring disputes.

Collective bargaining: the firm advises clients on all aspects of collective bargaining. brl’s lawyers design agreements and advise on negotiations in areas such as working time compliance, mobility and competitiveness. For recurring bargaining obligations, such as annual wage negotiations, brl assists its clients in defining short-term negotiating targets and implementing long-term strategies.

Compensation and benefits: ærige advises clients on matters ranging from workforce-wide compliance with social security regulations to tailored compensation packages for senior executives. The firm assists in implementing and optimising the mandatory schemes required by French law for death and disability benefits, pensions and healthcare, as well as profit-sharing and incentive schemes.

Relations with employee representatives: the firm advises on all aspects of employee representation obligations (obligations to provide information and consultation on a regular basis or in connection with specific projects such as reorganisation).

Individual employment relationships: ærige advises on hiring and retaining employees, particularly key executives, through contracts, bonus packages and incentive schemes, and on employee mobility (secondment and expatriation). For individual employee disputes, the firm provides advice during the severance process and represents the employer in the event of litigation.

Occupational health and safety: the firm assists clients in ensuring legal compliance, including with the prevention of harassment in its various forms. ærige advises on claims against employers involving occupational health and safety, and provides representation services during the pre-litigation and litigation phases.

Employment relationships governed by public law: ærige advises on civil service law for public sector employees as well as matters involving private sector employees who are protected from dismissal by the labour inspectorate.

Litigation: ærige represents its clients before all the French lower and appeal courts that have jurisdiction over labour, employment and social security disputes.