Ben Harris

Ben is a senior employment lawyer who has worked in leading employment practices in Sydney, Hong Kong and London. This international experience positions Ben well to advise multi-national corporations on issues relating to their global workforce, such as reductions in force, post-acquisition integration, and compliance and policy reviews.

Ben also has significant experience in employment litigation, particularly in the areas of post-termination restraints and employee competition issues, but also discrimination, harassment, general protections and unfair dismissal.

Outside of these areas, Ben is a trusted adviser to clients throughout the employment lifecycle, from hiring to performance management and termination of employment, as well as the impact that data privacy laws have on employers.

Ben has a particular interest in the tech sector, providing employment advice to start ups, emerging and global tech companies, and spent five months on secondment to Meta (previously Facebook) in 2020.

Ben was recognised:

• in the “Best Lawyers – Ones to Watch” Australia Labour & Employment list for 2022; and
• as a "Next Generation Lawyer" in the Legal 500 Hong Kong Employment rankings for 2017.

Ben’s experience includes:

• acting for a financial advisory business in Supreme Court litigation involving allegations of knowing participation in breaches of fiduciary duties, confidentiality obligations and post-termination restraints;
• leading the employment workstream on a client’s US$10b acquisition of the enterprise business of a cybersecurity company across 20 jurisdictions, including complex employee consultation and post-acquisition integration issues;
• coordinating a global reduction in force program across 40 jurisdictions for a financial services company, and advising a bank on the closure of its retail business in the Asia-Pacific region;
• obtaining a springboard injunction for a financial services business in respect of its former CEO, who had set up a competing business whilst on garden leave; and
• acting for an investment bank in relation to a high value maternity, sex and disability discrimination claim; and in another case involving sexual orientation and disability discrimination claims.