Saskia Henninger obtained a joint degree in Law and in History from the University of Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne, and then a postgraduate Masters in Corporate Law from Paris X-Nanterre, before working as an associate with Dominique de La Garanderie at the law offices of Veil Jourde La Garanderie. Saskia was admitted to the bar in February 1995.
After 10 years of experience working in a multidisciplinary business law firm, she enthusiastically embarked on creating a law practice entirely dedicated to labor law, La Garanderie Avocats, in 2006, alongside Dominique de la Garanderie.
Saskia acts on behalf of business actors, directors and HR officers on matters dealing with individual and collective work relations. She offers advice on day-to-day issues affecting these clients, while providing concrete, customized solutions. This entails work on matters ranging from recruitment, compensation, follow-up on contractual relationships, and termination, but also company-wide agreements, charters, and relations with staff representative bodies. And, more specifically, as she is keen to keep attuned with the changing world of workplace practice, she is actively involved in the world of Legaltechs.
Her sensibility, coupled with her more than 25 years of experience in litigation, convinced her that a judge may settle a litigation but not necessarily a dispute, which may continue to cause prejudice to the parties. That conviction led her, almost as a natural reaction, to turn to alternative modes of dispute resolution, notably mediation and collaborative law processes. Trained in mediation at IFOMENE and a member of AFPDC, she seeks whenever possible and when in the best interest of the parties, to reach a settlement that is resolved amicably and handled intelligently.
Convinced that labor law is best adapted to giving guidance on how to navigate through societal issues—which have now become a vital concern for companies—she pays particularly close attention to developments in human rights, compliance, and SER policies, which have emerged as factors of growth and dynamism for today’s companies. Inside the law firm itself, she has put her environmental convictions into practice, which is undoubtedly an outgrowth of the grün education she received from her father.
These qualities were behind her choice to lead the firm’s department on "Human Rights & Freedoms" and to participate in the department centering on the theme of '"Ethics & Compliance Issues."
Saskia participates in training initiatives because she is eager to share her knowledge and pass it on. For quite some time now, she has been giving professional training sessions at Cegos.
As president of AFFJ, the French Association of Women Lawyers, she gives voice to her conviction that the law must serve the cause of gender equality; and, to that end, she works with a team of women legal practitioners who draw on their expertise and sense of engagement to put their efforts into action.
A horse-back riding enthusiast, Saskia especially likes to ride her horse on the beach. In her spare time, she combines her fondness for literature with her love for the sea, by retreating regularly to Granville, on the Normandy coast, where she immerses herself in her favorite authors, from Colette, Hugo, Barbey d’Aurevilly, and Maupassant, not to forget André Gide, and, of course, Prévert!
