Menu About me

Jean-Baptiste Abel

Rechtsanwalt

For my clients, success is an act of empowerment.

What drives me to give everything for my clients? A strong sense of justice and the experience of being able to really help. In labor law, employees are usually confronted with an employer who has a structural advantage. In my work, I try to make up for this difference in resources, know-how and experience, so that employees and employers can talk to each other as equals.

My work focuses on employees in all sectors and in all life situations. I advise and represent them in all areas of employment law in German, English and French: from the review and negotiation of employment contracts, severance negotiations to dismissals by the company or by employees themselves.

Standing up for your rights takes courage and self-confidence

I know that it takes courage and self-confidence to stand up for one’s rights. This is all the more true in working life, which has such a major influence on how we lead our lives. This makes it all the more important for employees not to put up with everything and to know their rights. I am happy to assist you in this and to give you guidance.

Early on in my life, I learned to think in several languages and to switch between cultures. I grew up bilingual in French and German in Frankenthal in the Palatinate (southwestern Germany). Later during my youth, I spent several years in Tehran (Iran). I also spent some time in Seoul (Republic of Korea) during my studies.

My career in labor law

I started my legal career in 2009 as a legal secretary for the legal protection of the German Trade Union Confederation (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB). At DGB Rechtsschutz GmbH, I advised hundreds of employees as a litigation representative and represented them in court before labor, social and administrative courts.

Later, as head of the department for individual labor law and pension policy, I represented the positions of the DGB for workers’ rights before the German Bundestag and the European Parliament, among others. At the suggestion of the ver.di trade union, the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs appointed me as an honorary judge for the employee side at the Federal Labor Court.

I was admitted to the bar in February 2019 and run my own law firm in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

It is always a particularly nice moment in my work when my clients can look to the future with strength after the hearing because they have taken their fate into their own hands.

If you would also like to accept my support in your current situation, I would be happy to meet you and advise you on all legal and tactical options.

Book your appointment for a consultation here.

5 Questions to… JBA

What do you like to do when you’re not busy with the law?

  • Discussing whales, dinosaurs and Ninjago with my kids.
  • Doing amateur theater with my French theater group.
  • Cooking or visiting museums with my wife.

Your favorite albums to listen to on weekends?

  • Ben Folds Five: The unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
  • Randy Newman: Live in London
  • Anything that Paul Simon was involved in.

Which country has inspired you the most so far?

  • Iran: 5000 years of culture and hospitality second to none.
  • Portugal: a fascinating country overlooking the ocean.
  • Canada: a country full of indigenous and immigrant languages and cultures that have all found their place.

What takes your mind off things after a busy day?

  • A good home-cooked dinner.

For you, a good day starts with…?

  • An espresso, a croissant and too much jam.

 

Press

In the course of my work, I have often had the opportunity to comment on labor law issues in the press. Here you can find a small excerpt:

  • In Handelsblatt, I described the prerequisites for a dismissal due to illness.
  • I gave me an interview to Zeit Campus in which I gave some advice to young professionals from an employment law perspective.
  • The French daily Libération quoted my remarks on the so-called Hartz labor market reforms (in French).
  • I explained to the Berliner Tagesspiegel what employees have to consider when they want to take vacation.
  • In the German Bundestag, I spoke as an expert on fixed-term employment contracts at the public hearing of the Committee for Labor and Social Affairs.
  • In another public hearing, I answered questions on a legislative project relating to company pensions in the German Bundestag.
  • I described the Company Pension Strengthening Act in detail in the French journal “lettre d’or de l’observatoire des retraites” (in French).
  • On the page of the DGB Rechtsschutz GmbH I explained why one should not be afraid of legal disputes.