Ute Krudewagen

Krudewagen cited her work on the FMC Corp. transaction with E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, better known as DuPont, as one of the most gratifying deals of the past year.

She assisted FMC with global employment integration matters for the transaction, which spanned over 50 jurisdictions. But this is all in a day’s work for Krudewagen, who specializes on global labor and employment law issues and is co-chair of DLA Piper’s U.S. and international labor and employment group.

“I know a lot about law in foreign countries, but ultimately I work at forging colleagues across the globe,” Krudewagen said.

She said one of her chief goals is to keep clients out of litigation.

“I’ve never in my life litigated,” Krudewagen said. “I’m a transactional lawyer, so my work is really working on big transactions.”

Her work, which spans across the globe, encompasses advising and counseling global employers. She said her role as a central point of contact is advantageous to clients.

“You find different approaches in every country, and, you know, it’s very tough for an in-house person here to tackle them all across the globe,” she said.

In her work representing Qualcomm Inc. for the employment matters of its joint venture with TDK Corp., Krudewagen worked to design the human resources legal strategy for the business and to minimize the legal HR risk.

This venture, which was valued at $3 billion, was named RF360 Holdings Singapore Pte. Ltd. to enable Qualcomm’s radio frequency front-end business unit to deliver modules and filters into fully integrated systems for mobile devices and fast-growing industries.

She said her work on this venture involved global employment law, and this kind of dynamic work is satisfying. Krudewagen said she is never bored by her job because she is dealing with 20 to 30 different jurisdictions across the globe on a daily basis.

“I’m not winning or losing in hopefully closing deals,” she said. “The approach is, really, we need to be practical.”

— Caroline Hart