My background: from in-house employment law to advising executives and senior executives
As an employment lawyer, I previously worked as Legal Director for scale-ups and in a Group HR management role before returning to private practice.
Today, I advise executives and senior executives at key moments in their professional lives, particularly when negotiating their compensation package on joining a company or the terms of their departure. Where necessary, I work alongside lawyers specialising in equity matters.
My particular areas of focus include management packages, negotiated departures and outplacement, in both French and international environments, including listed companies, scale-ups and LBO-backed businesses.
From employment law to working in-house
I began my career in employment law before choosing to experience it from inside the business.
As Legal Director for scale-ups and later in a Group HR management role, and with an Executive MBA in International Human Resources, I spent several years working in-house. During this time, I helped implement management packages alongside law firms specialising in equity, recruited senior executives and managed executive departures, while navigating the sometimes competing priorities of shareholders, management and employees.
This in-house experience is now central to the way I practise as a lawyer.
Understanding how companies make decisions
When I returned to private practice, my aim was to act as a trusted legal and HR adviser to senior executives: someone who understands the law, but also how decisions are actually made within a company.
Over time, negotiation after negotiation, executive and senior executive departures became an increasingly important part of my practice.
Because I understood their compensation packages, but also because I understood how the employer on the other side approaches the negotiation.
Management packages and equity: a key consideration when leaving a company
I have progressively focused my practice and research on management packages and the negotiated departure of executives who hold an equity interest in their company.
These situations can be complex because the mechanisms vary considerably depending on the context: French or international company, listed or privately held, scale-up or LBO-backed business, employee or corporate officer.
A percentage of the company’s share capital does not tell the whole story. It is essential to understand how the package works, the conditions attached to the securities and the consequences that a departure may have on their vesting, retention or value.
Bringing together the right expertise
I do not work alone on these matters.
Where required, I work alongside lawyers specialising in equity, including leading firms with which I developed professional relationships while working as an in-house Legal Director.
They analyse the shareholders’ agreement, plan documentation and mechanisms governing the equity instruments; I focus on the departure strategy, the circumstances and grounds for termination, negotiations with the employer and the drafting of the settlement agreement.
This coordination is essential: the terms of the departure and the treatment of the management package need to be considered together.
A structured approach to negotiation
I also continue to develop my negotiation practice by training with specialists in complex and industrial negotiations, enabling me to approach each matter in a pragmatic and structured way.
Who makes the decision? Who influences it? What is the right sequence? What is the mandate? What leverage does each party have?
The aim is not to reduce a negotiation to an exchange of figures, but to understand the people involved, the underlying interests and the dynamics of the negotiation.
Preparing for what comes next
Finally, there is one issue I care particularly about: outplacement.
Leaving on the right terms is important, but it is not enough.
Where appropriate, I negotiate for the company to fund support towards the executive’s next position, because a successful departure should also be measured by what comes next.
In Aix-en-Provence and Paris
I advise executives and senior executives in Aix-en-Provence and Paris, as well as throughout France remotely.
I also advise clients in English, particularly international and expatriate executives dealing with French employment law issues.
My experience in legal and HR management also enables me to advise SMEs and their executives on legal and HR matters.
Contacter domaniewicz avocat
42 Avenue Victor Hugo
13100 Aix-en-Provence
9 Rue Treilhard
75008 Paris
06.23.61.20.01