Pulina Whitaker

Pulina is often appointed to conduct independent misconduct investigations, including most recently for UNICEF UK in response to bullying allegations. She acts for employers in defending against employment and data privacy allegations and claims, including for bullying/harassment, unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing, breach of data processing, and employment contract claims. She has experience working with international and European clients to help them comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, including advising on audits of data processing activities and data security incidents.

Pulina advises on cross-border commercial outsourcing and corporate reorganizations, negotiating warranty and indemnity provisions and disclosures in transactional documentation, and conducting global redundancy and furlough projects. She is skilled at navigating individual and collective consultation requirements in multiple jurisdictions, including dealing with trade unions and works councils. She also advises on the automatic transfer of employment requirements and related information and consultation obligations in the United Kingdom and across other European jurisdictions. 

Pulina’s practice spans internationally, and she speaks French and Italian.

She has been described by clients in The Legal 500 as “extremely knowledgeable with a practical approach” and is noted as being “a key name for issues covering employment and data privacy work.”

• A company on the investigation of a significant whistleblower complaint
• One of the world’s largest IT companies on international employment and stock issues related to its global merger with a US IT company and subsequent global integration issues
• The joint venture of one of Europe’s largest payment processing businesses
• The acquisition of a manufacturing conglomerate across multiple jurisdictions, including informing or consulting employee representatives, dealing with a substantial defined benefit pension scheme deficit, and negotiating new service agreements for the board of directors
• A fraud investigation that required liaising with the City of London police
• Management of international data breach reporting requirements in more than 130 countries relating to a data breach incident
• For numerous multinational organizations, advised on UK Modern Slavery Act requirements
• For multiple organizations, advised on UK gender pay reporting requirements
• Appointed as a Compliance Monitor for the United Nations relating to employee misconduct matters in numerous global jurisdictions
• Appointed as the Independent Monitor by USAID for a charity
• Conducted an independent investigation into allegations of bullying by the former chair of UNICEF UK
• For numerous multinationals, advised on cross-border data transfers, including executing model clauses and similar data transfer agreements, and other alternative options for transferring personal data to non-European jurisdictions
• For numerous data controller and data processor organisations, including European, US, Russian, and APAC organizations, advised on requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation and local European data privacy laws
• A sexual harassment claim involving employees in US and UK jurisdictions