Question 43: How should outside professional lawyers, in-house counsels and human resources managers/directors cooperate to provide effective support for each other in the course of restructuring?

In order to have an effective cooperation in laying-off Employees due to restructuring, outside lawyers, in-house counsels and human resources managers need to cooperate with each other in all the steps of a restructuring process, and should be aware of the following issues:

  • In-house counsels and human resources managers should provide outside lawyers with as much information as possible so they can give appropriate and prompt legal advice;
  • The in-house counsel and human resources manager are the persons who know the enterprise’s activities well so they need to give outside lawyers their ideas about the particular issues and culture of the enterprise, which outside lawyers may need to draft legal advice and/or do the assigned jobs; and
  • Besides advising on the bases, risks, and procedure for laying-off Employees due to restructuring, outside lawyers need to provide all the updated forms to save time for the human resources department.