Sara Schermerhorn advises on the full range of employment law and related topics and is responsible for the group's know how. Sara has extensive experience advising on collective and individual dismissals, the employment law aspects and employee consultation requirements of mergers, acquisitions and outsourcing transactions and employee benefits, including relevant incentive schemes. Sara is also advising on whistleblower schemes. Her knowledge on work-related immigration issues adds value in Brexit related initiatives.
- Sara was part of the team advising Darling International Inc. on the acquisition of the VION Ingredients business from Vion Holding N.V., with a focus on the employee consultation aspects of the transaction and its financing. VION Ingredients has 58 businesses and approximately 5700 employees worldwide. In this deal, the employment team dealt with the employee consultation aspect of
- Sara lead the employment team advising Staples, Inc, on the sale of its Printing Systems Division to CoBe Capital though a controlled auction process. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, The Staples Printing Systems Division has worldwide annual revenue of 225 million euro and employs nearly 500 people. It has subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Spain. The team advised Staples on all aspects of the transaction (which with preparation time lasted over more than 12 months, including structuring, conducting a vendor due diligence, drafting and negotiating a sale and purchase agreement and advising on a pre-sale restructuring. The challenges for the process where not only the legal aspects but also the dynamics caused by the target business being non-core and its capital intense nature in a crisis in Europe (in particular Greece, Italy and Spain). The target business had also been restructured twice in the past three years which made the works council advice process a particular challenge that required significant political and diplomatic skills to complete in a successful manner.
Career and qualifications
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University of Groningen (Law) 1998
- Admitted as an advocaat to the Dutch Bar 1999
- Joined Clifford Chance 1999
- Counsel since 2010
Professional bodies
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Member of the VAAN and the VAAA, respectively the national and the Amsterdam associations for employment law specialists.
Awards and citations
- "Counsel Sara Schermerhorn goes the extra mile to deliver outstanding support."
Legal 500 2013
