Annabel is a Partner in our Labor & Employment practice group and heads up the UK's Business Immigration team. She has over 10 years' experience in all aspects of business immigration and employment law both at individual and corporate multi-national level in a variety of sectors including architecture; retail; media, marketing and communications; and financial services.  She has a particular expertise in relation to the problematic overlap between immigration and employment law including the issues of illegal working, race discrimination and related dismissals.  Annabel also has extensive experience in the project management of transferring staff outside the UK.

Annabel speaks regularly at seminars and workshops as part of the Employment department’s national seminar programme as well as bespoke client training sessions. She has been one of the principal speakers at Croner’s bi-annual day long seminars on ‘Employing Overseas Nationals’ since 2007.

Annabel and her team recently devised a series of Breakfast Seminars at our four offices around the UK alerting clients to the UK Border Agency’s prioritisation of mainstream commercial organisations for immigration compliance audits which can take place without notice.

Annabel is a contributing editor on the Employment Law website XpertHR.

Annabel is rated as "an excellent communicator with a pragmatic, business-focused style" in the 2010 edition of The Legal 500 UK. She is also listed in the 2011 edition of The Legal 500 UK.

Representative Experience

• Project managing the transfer of staff from all jurisdictions including the UK to locations across the globe using an international network of specialist immigration advisers (both from within and outside the Firm) including advising a global communications company for the 5th consecutive year on the transfer of 18-25 key employees of various nationalities to different locations around the world as part of a rolling 3-year graduate fellowship programme.
• Advising one of the UK’s largest wealth management, insurance and healthcare companies on the immigration implications of the share sale of one its subsidiaries complicated by reason of its sponsored migrants providing services to the subsidiary being sold whilst remaining employed by the parent company.
• Advising various businesses on sponsor licence audits and illegal working issues.
• Successful review against a civil penalty imposed by the UK Border Agency.