Deborah Margolis
Senior Counsel

Deborah is a Senior Counsel at GQ|Littler and is qualified to practice in both the UK and Ireland. In the UK, Deborah practises both contentious and non-contentious employment law for businesses, advising clients on a wide of range of matters, from employee relations matters to terminations and large-scale projects, often with an international element.

Deborah is one of Littler’s workplace data privacy experts, having acted as data privacy counsel for one of GQ|Littler’s technology clients in 2017-2018 during which she led their GDPR implementation and compliance project. She advises both UK and Irish clients on data privacy compliance (often with an international angle), complex data privacy issues, subject access requests and data breaches. 

Deborah has also become one of Littler’s European subject matter experts on Artificial Intelligence (AI), its use in the workplace and its future regulation in both the EU and UK. She frequently speaks as a thought-leader on AI at international conferences, including Littler’s flagship client conference and AI summit. 

Deborah has been recognised as a future global employment leader by International Employment Lawyer in the 2023 Tomorrow’s Leaders thought-leadership survey; a showcase of 40 rising stars from across the world who will be at the forefront of addressing future workplace challenges. She is also recognised in the International Employment Lawyer's IEL Elite (2024), an inaugural guide to the world’s best employment and labour law teams, as a key lawyer. 

Deborah is recognised as a leading associate in Chambers and Partners (2025) and as a key lawyer in the Legal 500 (2024 - 25) guide. Clients say, "in particular, Deborah Margolis has proven an outstanding advisor and confidant. She is bright, highly competent and yet pragmatic and business-focused." Others say, "Deborah is an absolute pleasure to work with.  She provides practical, thoughtful and comprehensive guidance and is available to assist whenever needed. Deborah and the team have done an incredible job coordinating representation in multiple countries and digesting and organising the guidance from different counsel in a practical and accessible format."

Deborah joined GQ|Littler in January 2016, having trained at a boutique employment law firm and worked in the employment department of an international City firm. She is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association and IAPP (the Institute of Advanced Privacy Professionals).