• Represents management in lawsuits and agency proceedings throughout the country in cases involving wage and hours issues and litigation, employment discrimination and harassment allegations, whistleblower claims, employee benefits issues, employment tort and contract claims, retaliation claims, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements and trade secrets misappropriation issues. Scope of litigation practice is national.
• Conducts and coordinates sensitive corporate investigations involving Sarbanes Oxley, FCPA and other high risk compliance matters.
• Counsels clients on various employment matters, including discrimination and harassment issues, labor and employment issues arising out of mergers and acquisitions; the enforceability of non-competition, non-solicitation, and confidentiality agreements; corporate policies; drug and alcohol testing; and wage and hour matters.
• Frequent management training experience on preventative practices to avoid litigation and union organizing campaigns. Certified facilitator of award-winning Civil Treatment® for Managers and Legal Record® programs on litigation avoidance and documentation.
• Substantial experience in development of union negotiation and communication strategies regarding implementation of cost reductions, employee training and testing requirements and modernization of labor agreements.
• Extensive experience in representing financial services, life sciences, healthcare, chemical manufacturing, and technology clients.

Representative Cases

• Successfully obtained dismissal of nationwide collective action against pharmaceutical company challenging exempt status of sales representatives under Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Successfully defended a nationwide healthcare company against collective action claims.
• Obtained defense verdict in jury trial of FLSA claim for overtime for national electronics manufacturer.
• Successfully defended numerous cases alleging violations of Sarbanes Oxley Act whistleblower protections, including first reported federal court summary judgment decision.
• Liason defense counsel for Multi-District Litigation proceeding involving over 100 cases alleging racially discriminatory pricing of insurance products.
• Successfully defended class action brought against trucking company by independent owner/operators seeking employee benefits and rights.
• Successfully defended class actions and multiple plaintiff actions alleging ERISA fiduciary and benefit violations.
• Successfully defended employers in complex trade secret/noncompete litigation brought by competitors in technology and chemical industries.
• Successfully obtained temporary restraining orders in trade secret cases which allowed immediate seizure of computer equipment and storage media from former employees to prevent disclosure of trade secret information.

• Member, State Bar of Georgia
• Member, Atlanta Bar Association; Labor & Employment Law Section; Trial Practice Section
• Member, American Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section
• Member Leadership Atlanta, Class of 2006
• Admitted to practice: United States Court of Appeals for the 5th, 6th and 11th Circuits; United States District Courts for the Northern Dist. of Georgia, Middle Dist. of Georgia, and all Georgia Courts

• Recognized in Who’s Who in Law and Accounting, as published in Atlanta Business Chronicle, 2003-2009
• Named an Employment Litigation Super Lawyer, as published in Atlanta Magazine and Georgia Super Lawyers magazine®, 2004-2009
• Selected as Law Fellow, Lawyers Foundation of Georgia
• Recognized in Chambers USA, 2007-2009
• Named one of "Georgia's Legal Elite," a listing of the state's "most effective lawyers," selected by Georgia attorneys and published in Georgia Trend Magazine, 2005-2008

• J.D., Washington and Lee University School of Law, cum laude, 1985
  
• B.A., University of Iowa, Political Science, 1982