Labor and employment
Baker McKenzie LLP ’s team is recognised for its global reach and expertise in cross-border transactions, offering one-stop US and international executive compensation and employee benefits advice. The firm regularly advises on executive compensation, equity plans, and benefits issues in major M&A, spin-offs, and restructuring transactions. The team’s has notably advised on the impact of the FTC’s non-compete ban and California’s new non-compete notice requirements, attracting significant interest from clients. Recent high-profile mandates include advising Cisco on its $28bn acquisition of Splunk, handling the tax, regulatory, and compliance aspects across 34 jurisdictions. The San Francisco-based team is led by Barbara Klementz, an expert in global equity compensation and executive incentives, with Denise Glagau providing extensive experience in tax and regulatory compliance for global share plans.
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Profile
Work Department
Employment and Compensation
Position
Barbara Klementz is the chair of Baker McKenzie’s North American Compensation Practice. She has practiced in the area of global equity and executive compensation for over 20 years. Barbara has authored several articles on global equity issues for the BNA Executive Compensation Journal, Journal of Corporate Taxation and San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journal, among others, and she is a contributor to a blog on global equity related topics called the Compensation Connection. She is also a frequent speaker on a variety of global equity topics. Barbara is a Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer for 2024 and recognized as a ranked practitioner by Legal 500 for Employee Benefits: Transactional and by Chambers USA. Client feedback in Chambers states that "Barbara is absolutely phenomenal" and "Barbara is incredibly impressive in terms of expertise and the ability to be pragmatic and practical. She knows the laws and rules in a staggering number of countries." Barbara is admitted to private practice in California and Düsseldorf, Germany.
Career
Barbara focuses her practice on global equity compensation programs, executive compensation and employee benefits. She regularly advises multinational companies on implementing their equity compensation and other incentive programs worldwide – particularly as it relates to tax and securities law matters and exchange control regulations. Barbara also frequently advises on the treatment of such programs in corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and divestitures, as well as on the tax treatment of cross-border employees participating in such programs.
Languages
English, French, German
Memberships
- Global Equity Organization - Board of Directors
- National Association of Stock Plan Professionals
- State Bar of California
- San Francisco Bar Association
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Key clients
- Cisco / Splunk
- Physician’s Realty Trust
- HPE / Juniper
- Alteryx
- Marel
- Olink / Thermo Fisher Scientific
- Acuity Brands
- LatAm Logistic Properties, S.A.
- LiveRamp
- Cadence Design Systems
- Agiloft
Work highlights
Advised Cisco and Spluk on their merger, representing approximately USD 28 billion in equity value.
Advised Physicians Realty Trust in its successful merger with Healthpeak Properties, Inc. in an all-stock merger of equals valued at approximately USD 21 billion.
Advising both HPE and Juniper Networks on employment and compensation integration issues across 58 countries related to the USD 14 billion anticipated acquisition of Juniper Networks to accelerate HPE's portfolio of AI-driven innovation solutions.