Leigh Mullikin Nason

Leigh Nason is a shareholder in the Columbia, South Carolina office of Ogletree Deakins and chairs the firm’s Affirmative Action/OFCCP Compliance Practice Group. She devotes the majority of her practice to representing federal contractors and subcontractors in compliance evaluations and administrative enforcement actions triggered by the United States Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Ms. Nason counsels employers on the preparation, management, and defense of their affirmative action programs and related matters, including jurisdictional analyses and preventative strategies. She is routinely involved with investigating and resolving systemic discrimination issues stemming from statistical disparities in hiring, compensation, and testing and has extensive experience negotiating and defending allegations of back pay liability and other sanctions imposed by OFCCP. She also advises employers on compensation analyses and audits, diversity and inclusion metrics and strategies, and EEO-1/VETS reporting. Ms. Nason has litigated numerous discrimination claims before federal and state courts and administrative tribunals. Ms. Nason has been included in The Best Lawyers in America for many years and was selected as the 2017 Employment Law-Management Lawyer of the Year for Columbia, SC. She is listed in Chambers USA as one of the country's leading attorneys in the affirmative action compliance arena, has been designated as a South Carolina "Super Lawyer," and is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. She has authored and edited numerous publications on affirmative action compliance issues and is an editor of and contributing author to all four editions of Labor and Employment Law for South Carolina Lawyers, published by the South Carolina Bar. She is a frequent lecturer in the areas of affirmative action compliance and employment discrimination. Ms. Nason is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of South Carolina School of Law, and is certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court as a specialist in the area of employment and labor law. She served as Chair of the South Carolina Bar's Labor and Employment Law Committee and its Employment and Labor Law Specialization Advisory Board, and she is a member of the South Carolina Industry Liaison Group.