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Martin Luff
Martin Luff
Counsel — Labor & Employment
E: mluff@velaw.com T: +44.20.7065.6172
VCard BIO PDF
Counsel — Labor & Employment

Martin Luff

Martin Luff
London
T: +44.20.7065.6172

20 Fenchurch Street
24th Floor
London EC3M 3BY
United Kingdom

Houston
T: +1.713.758.2172
F: +1.713.615.5021

Texas Tower
845 Texas Avenue
Suite 4700
Houston, Texas 77002

E: mluff@velaw.com
VCard BIO PDF
start quote symbolHaving spent many years working in both the UK and US, I have the experience to help multinational clients with their complex cross-border challenges as well as day-to-day HR issues. I aim for my clients to see me as a valuable part of their team, working alongside them to provide practical advice that gets to a solution as efficiently as possible.end quote symbol
Martin Luff

Martin’s principal area of practice is U.S., English, and international labor and employment law. He has extensive experience dealing with employment aspects of domestic and international business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.

He also counsels clients on day-to-day HR and personnel issues, including employment and consultancy agreements, international employee transfers and expatriate arrangements, disciplinary and performance issues, senior executive terminations, and employment disputes. In addition, Martin advises clients on non-competition and non-solicitation covenants, redundancies and group layoffs, incentive arrangements and employment issues arising out of federal government contracts, record retention policies, and international data privacy and transfer laws. After six years in V&E’s Houston office, Martin is now based in London. He is licensed as an attorney in Texas and as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.

Experience Highlights

  • Advised TPG Capital on employment issues in the $979 million acquisition of Ashland Inc.’s global chemical distribution business, which has employees in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, and Russia

  • Advised a global private equity fund on all aspects of its UK employment matters, including senior executive hires and terminations, discrimination and harassment allegations, redundancies and performance management issues 

  • Advised a UK private equity firm on the termination of the CEO of one of its portfolio companies (including the drafting and negotiation of a settlement agreement) and the hiring of the successor CEO 

  • Drafted and negotiated employment contracts and post-termination non-competition and non-solicitation restrictions for Pharos Capital Group in the acquisition of Seaside Healthcare, Inc., a behavioral health services provider

  • Advised multinational oilfield services company on the termination of a senior Norwegian executive expat working in the United States

  • Advised a private equity fund on non-competition and non-solicitation restrictive covenants in connection with an acquisition in the UK

  • Advised private equity firm on the employment aspects of its acquisition of a US-based technology company 

  • Advised a Master Limited Partnership on structuring its workforce to preserve workers’ compensation insurance coverage for all corporate group entities

  • Advised a client in the finance industry on labor union issues, including successorship of collective bargaining agreements, arising out of a significant corporate acquisition

  • Drafted employment agreements for a British consulting firm establishing operations in the U.S.

  • Assisted a client with in-house investigation of alleged employee misconduct in the United Arab Emirates

  • Defended a deposition in London of a management-level employee in connection with a national origin discrimination claim brought in the United States federal courts 

  • Advised a U.S.-based construction company on compliance with the UK Data Protection Act

  • Advise client on compliance with the UK Modern Slavery Act

  • Advise client on potential human rights risks arising out of the engagement of security service providers in Libya

  • Advise independent oil and gas company on development of social aspects of ESG program

  • Due diligence and contract revisions for international manufacturing company related to supply chain matters in Northern Brazil

  • Advised a construction materials manufacturer in analyzing the implications of entering into federal subcontracts

  • Advised a midstream energy services provider on compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations as a result of entering into a contract with a federal contractor

  • Advised a healthcare system client on evolving case law relating to OFCCP jurisdictional coverage

  • Drafted a document retention policy for an independent oil and natural gas producer

  • Advised a wholesale distributor of refined petroleum products on the nationwide implementation and rollout of record retention procedures

Credentials

  • The University of Texas School of Law, LL.M., 2008 (Member, Texas International Law Journal)
  • Nottingham Law School, Diploma, Legal Practice with distinction, 2001
  • University of Nottingham, B.A., Law with First Class (Highest) Honours, 2000
  • Employment lawyer at a major corporate law firm in London
  • Legal counsel at a global consulting company in Houston
  • Member: American Bar Association; Houston Bar Association; Houston Young Lawyers Association; U.K. Employment Lawyers Association (ELA); Law Society of England and Wales
  • England & Wales
  • Texas
  • U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of Texas
  • “COVID-19 and the Future of International Employment Law,” Texas State Bar’s International Law Section, April 2020 Newsletter (author)
  • “Keep Calm and Carry On: How Disputes, Data Privacy and Employment Issues Post-Brexit Will Affect American Businesses,” V&E Houston Office, June 14, 2018 (speaker)
  • “Workers’ Compensation Insurance: Do You Have the Coverage You Think You Do?” June 30, 2016 (presenter)
  • “Global Reductions in Force,” June 3, 2016 (presenter)
  • “Employment Consideration in International Asset Transactions,” June 3, 2016 (presenter)
  • “Modern Slavery Act 2015 – The Impact on Multinational Businesses,” PLC Magazine, April 2016 (co-author)
  • “Functional Approaches to Obtaining Non-Compete Protections,” V&E International Labor and Employment Law Update, July 8, 2014 (co-author)
  • “Expert Q&A: Executive Actions Affecting Federal Contractors,” Practical Law, May 20, 2014 (co-author)
  • “Federal Contractors Impacted By Recent Executive Order and Presidential Memorandum on Equal Pay,” V&E Employment, Labor and OSHA Update E-communication, April 30, 2014 (co-author)
  • State Bar of Texas’ 25th Annual International Law Institute (panelist)
  • Chapter on Norwegian labor and employment law for the ABA’s International Labor Law Treatise (co-author)

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