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Find Lawyers in Missouri, United States for Employment Law - Management
Practice Area Overview
Employment law is the practice area of lawyers who advise employers about workplace related issues.
Regulations governing the way employees are hired, managed, disciplined, and terminated are complex and constantly evolving. These laws affect companies differently depending on size, industry, and workforce makeup. Businesses must ensure that employment policies, training program, and everyday practices are in compliance – or risk crippling lawsuits. Employment law practices emphasize preventive counseling to minimize liability and potential business interruption for employers. Employment law audits are frequently utilized to expose problem areas before they become legal nightmares.
Despite the best efforts of conscientious employers to comply with the law and to treat employees fairly, lawsuits can occur. Such suits present problems both obvious – large verdicts, for example – and more insidious – such as the waste of management’s time and resources which can interfere with productive, efficient business operation. This ever-increasing scope of employment litigation intersects with virtually all types of business litigation including class actions, products liability, premises liability, traditional torts, and business contract disputes of all types. The employment litigation practice continues to expand with each new right or legal obligation enacted by federal and state legislators or recognized by the courts.
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Greg Ballew is a partner in the Kansas City office. Greg has successfully defended employers in state and federal court litigation throughout the United States, obtaining summary judgment, judgment and arbitration awards for employers in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Greg also regularly assists employers who have received charges of discrimination from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)...
Thomas E. Berry, Jr. is a principal in the St. Louis, Missouri, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Tom's practice is exclusively focused on representing management before state, federal or local administrative agencies as well as before both state and federal courts throughout the country. His practice is national in scope – he has represented employers in legal proceedings in over twenty different states. Tom has extensive litigation experience which permits him to effectively counsel and ad...
Randy Coffey is a partner in the Kansas City office. He devotes his practice to the representation of management in labor and employment matters, defending employers in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Randy has litigated numerous multi-plaintiff and class-action cases, as well as cases brought by individual plaintiffs. He also provides representation before state and federal administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Lab...
Ian Cooper serves clients in employment, higher education, commercial, and tort matters. Ian regularly serves as lead counsel in significant cases, including class actions and other complex litigation and has tried numerous jury and bench trials in Missouri and Illinois. He has argued cases before the Missouri Supreme Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, the Missouri and Illinois Courts of Appeal, and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits and has briefed importa...
Tim Davis advises clients on all aspects of the employer/employee relationship, including compliance with the NLRA, FMLA, Title VII, ADA, FLSA, EPA, OSHA, Executive Order 11246, ERISA and state and local employment statutes. He has assisted numerous clients in proactively addressing issues involving complex termination scenarios, the maintenance of union-free operations, the development of non-discrimination policies, investigation procedures and training materials, the development of FMLA an...
Jeannie M. DeVeney represents retailers, school districts, public entities, and other employers in all types of employment law issues. She has successfully tried harassment, discrimination and retaliation cases to juries in both state and federal courts and has appeared before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Missouri Commission on Human rights, the Kansas Human Rights Commission, the Kansas City Human Relations Department and numerous other state and federal agencies. She has...
Brian Finucane is a partner in the firm's Kansas City office. He has practiced exclusively in the field of labor and employment law since 1977. Brian provides a broad range of legal services in employment law, from daily client consultation designed to avoid legal problems to defending clients in complex class action litigation. He also represents clients in traditional labor law matters, negotiating contracts and handling National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) matters, union contract arbitrat...
Corey Franklin's legal practice is focused on the representation of management in labor relations issues and employment law disputes. A majority of Corey's practice is dedicated to helping clients with both unionized and non-unionized personnel when facing labor relations issues. He is highly skilled in advocating for clients in complex collective bargaining negotiations, labor arbitration and grievance proceedings, union organizing campaigns, strikes, and administrative proceedings before th...
Michael F. Harris received his law degree ( cum laude ) from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1983 and his undergraduate degree ( cum laude ) from Arizona State University in 1980. While in law school, Mike served as Assistant Managing Editor of the Saint Louis University Law Journal and was selected for the Order of the Woolsack. Mike is a Certified Public Accountant. Mike has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America and Missouri-Kansas Super Lawyers. In addition to labo...
Margaret A. Hesse primarily practices in the areas of education law, employment law, and litigation. She has represented school districts in employment matters, including Title VII, the Safe Schools Act, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Equal Pay Act. She has represented employers in labor matters before the United States Department of Labor/Wage and Hour Division, the Illinois Commission on Human Rights and the Illinois Educatio...
James C. Hetlage is an experienced employment attorney, litigator, and municipal attorney. He represents government and private-sector employers before state and federal administrative agencies, trial courts and appellate courts. Mr. Hetlage is experienced in resolving employment discrimination claims and other labor and employment disputes in court and through mediation and arbitration. He has addressed the impact of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter for employers, and has...
Adam D. Hirtz is a principal and the office litigation manager in the St. Louis, Missouri, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He prides himself on being a responsive, strategic and creative advocate and counselor for the firm’s clients. Adam has more than 25 years of experience as a trial attorney representing businesses in employment litigation in both state and federal courts throughout the country. He also acts as a mediator, including regularly mediating cases for the Equal Employment Opp...
Jim Holland is managing partner of the firm’s Kansas City office. He works as a business partner with his clients and focuses his advice on helping them navigate employment issues with as little disruption to their operations as possible. Jim counsels employers about how to avoid workplace issues before they become lawsuits. When lawsuits cannot be avoided, however, Jim has litigated cases in federal and state courts across the country. Jim works with his clients to obtain practical, bu...
Patrick (“Pat”) Hulla co-leads the firm’s Class Action Defense Group. Since 1993, Pat has represented employers who have been sued by current and former employees. He has led the defense in dozens of class and collective actions. Examples of his recent success include: Denial of class certification in consumer race discrimination action; Denial of national conditional certification of age discrimination claims under the ADEA; Denial of class action certification of off-the-c...
Melanie Gurley Keeney practices in the areas of education, higher education, labor and employment, and immigration law. Her experience in education law includes representing school districts and institutions of higher education regarding various personnel and student matters, including tenure, terminations, discrimination, First Amendment, discipline, special education, Title IX, sexual discrimination, § 1983 claims, Open Meetings law, OCR complaints and other issues. Melanie represents ...
Mr. Lemley has practiced exclusively in the area of labor and employment law and related commercial litigation since 1995. He concentrates his practice primarily in litigation of employment and employment related commercial disputes and employer counseling. He has represented employers in a wide range of litigation matters in both state and federal court, and before arbitrators, administrative law judges and other tribunals in disputes involving alleged discrimination based on race, sex, age,...
Jessica L. Liss is the office managing principal of the St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, and Overland Park, Kansas, offices of Jackson Lewis, P.C. Based in St. Louis her entire career, Jessica is a seasoned trial attorney with extensive experience litigating all forms of employment matters throughout the Midwest, in federal courts, state courts, and before administrative agencies, arbitrators and mediators. Jessica is a trusted advisor providing ongoing legal support and counsel on a dail...
R. Michael Lowenbaum is a principal in the St. Louis, Missouri, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Before joining Jackson Lewis, Mike was the founder and co-managing partner of Lowenbaum Law. For more than 35 years, he has assisted employers in solving - and avoiding - a wide range of workplace problems. Mike advises clients in traditional labor law and labor relations, municipal labor law, employment law, affirmative action and wage and hour matters. For his clients, from national Fortune 500 comp...
Karen Milner's practice focuses on the representation and counsel of management in matters and disputes related to employment law and labor relations. Clients rely on Karen's day-to-day employment law counseling in the areas of wage and hour compliance, affirmative action planning and compliance, business immigration law, and workplace safety & health. She routinely works with in-house counsel, human resources directors and staff, and directors of labor relations to develop litigation avo...
Jim has extensive experience in handling labor and employment law litigation in federal and state courts, and before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Justice, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and several state agencies. He also regularly advises employers on all labor and human resource management issues in an effort to prevent or resolve employee issues before they escalate into legal disputes.Prior to his pr...
Donald S. Prophete is a trial lawyer who excels at representing large clients in complex and multi-plaintiff race employment discrimination cases. He has handled many high-profile and high-damage cases in the sports, military contractor and retail industries. Don has served as lead trial counsel in all types of employment disputes in federal and state courts in New Hampshire, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, including post-decertification wage and h...
Melody Rayl is a partner in the Kansas City office. Melody counsels and advocates for private and public-sector employers in all aspects of employment litigation and traditional labor law. Melody regularly advises and counsels her clients through difficult situations with an eye to preventing litigation before it occurs and provides training to supervisory and management level personnel on a variety of employment related topics. When litigation does occur, Melody works with employers in defen...
Vincent D. Reese focuses his practice on labor, employment, and education law, in addition to commercial litigation. Vince has successfully litigated employment discrimination claims based on race, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, and pregnancy in Missouri and Illinois State Courts as well as many federal district courts around the country. Vince has extensive experience in representing his clients’ interests with respect to investigations conducted by the U.S. Equal Emp...
Chad Reis is a skilled trial lawyer and focuses his practice on employment law, representing clients in employment litigation before juries in state and federal courts and before state and federal administrative agencies. He has a broad range of employment trial experience, including claims involving: Discrimination Harassment Whistleblowing and retaliation Wage and hour matters Chad represents numerous national and local employers in the following industries: Retail Hospitality Construction ...
Fred A. Ricks, Jr. has over twenty-five years of experience representing clients in all aspects of labor and employment matters throughout the United States. Fred’s employment law practice encompasses a full range of employment law matters including state and federal employment discrimination laws, wage and hour, wrongful discharge and employee benefit claims. His practice includes planning and consulting work designed to prevent labor and employment law claims against clients. Fred als...
Kim, a managing partner with Constangy, focuses her practice on helping employers proactively address workplace manners. Kim believes that the best way to minimize litigation in the workplace is to address issues before they become problems and helps her clients achieve this through assisting in the development of workplace policies, investigation procedures and training materials, preparing employee handbooks and procedure manuals, conducting training for management, supervisors, and employe...
Bob Stewart has extensive employment law/labor law trial experience in federal and state courts (jury and non-jury), as well as before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and arbitrators. Throughout his career, counseling clients on virtually all aspects of the employment relationship, successfully to avoid litigation, has also been a focus. Another significant aspect of Bob’s practice has been assisting employers in dealing with labor unions, both during collective bargaining, st...
Mr. Witcher has practiced in the areas of labor and employment law since 1996. Lance concentrates his practice primarily in litigation of employment-related disputes, human resources counseling and matters before the Occupational and Mine Safety Health Review Commissions. He has represented employers in a wide range of litigation matters in both state and federal court, and before arbitrators, administrative law judges and other tribunals in disputes involving alleged discrimination based on ...
Kimberly A. Yates focuses her practice on labor and employment litigation, particularly in the areas of: Wage and hour collective and class action matters Restrictive covenant contracts and non-competes cases Discrimination and retaliation lawsuits Originally from mid-Missouri, she currently resides in southern Illinois and predominately practices in Missouri and Illinois federal and state courts and represents clients across a multitude of industries, ranging from national restaurant chains ...
J. Bradley Young has almost thirty years of experience in all aspects of workers compensation defense in both Missouri and Illinois, including the investigation of claims, trials, and appellate work. Mr. Young has spoken before corporate organizations and at in-house client seminars for many years, and frequently lectures for nationally known seminar companies on topics relating to workers’ compensation claims, employer liability, and third-party administration of claims.
Matt Banocy focuses his practice on employment and business litigation matters. Matt is adept at providing preventive advice and counsel to his clients to help them ensure that their employment practices and policies remain compliant with the myriad of constantly evolving national and state specific employment laws. Matt counsels employers on virtually all employee relations issues, including discipline and discharge decisions, wage and hour laws, employee misclassification issues, and compla...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
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