Find Lawyers in South Carolina, 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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Cities
Sheila Willis is committed to finding practical, real world solutions to her clients’ employment law needs. She represents companies—large and small—as they navigate employment issues related to hiring, discipline, investigations, employment discrimination, unemployment, and other related issues. Sheila provides guidance to higher education institutions on Title IX Compliance and investigations She has extensive experience providing compliance advice to federal contractors o...
Wade Ballard counsels businesses on the entire range of workplace issues and provides advice and representation to employers on employment law, including wage and hour disputes, wrongful termination, retaliation discrimination, harassment, and other issues of concern to employers. He represents management in labor and employment matters in the courts, in arbitration, and before government agencies, including the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Labor, the North and South Carolina Departments of L...
Thomas (“Tom”) Bright has spent his entire legal career practicing labor and employment law representing management. As a litigator, Tom has handled cases ranging from sexual harassment matters, to wage payment matters, to all nature of employment discrimination matters. He has handled cases for clients in his home state of South Carolina, throughout the southeast, and in states like New York, Minnesota, California, Utah, Missouri and Texas. Tom has also advised clients through ad...
Deborah C. Brown Debbie Brown is a member of GWB’s Workplace Practices Group and focuses her practice on the defense of employment and workers’ compensation cases. As a certified employment specialist by the South Carolina Supreme Court, Debbie is able to assist employers, including employers in workers’ compensation cases, with a wide array of employment issues. Debbie also conducts seminars in both employment law and workers’ compensation for other Bar members and cl...
A certified employment law specialist, skilled litigator, and an experienced business counselor, Bev Carroll represents business of all sizes. Her clients cross many business sectors, including, manufacturers, service providers, and medical practices. She has assisted with licensing, contracting, negotiation, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory compliance. She also can advise companies on employment law issues, from claims of wrongful termination and violations of noncompete agreements t...
Mike Carrouth is a partner in the Columbia office. He is certified as a Specialist in Labor Law by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Mike has represented clients in successfully responding to union organizing efforts in 30 states. This work includes successfully defending against multi-site and multi-state national organizing blitzes and card-check/neutrality campaigns. Mike also has represented clients in numerous litigation matters, including jury trials, involving Family and Medical Leave ...
Cara Crotty is a partner who has defended employers in cases involving every aspect of the employment relationship, including claims such as sexual, racial, age, and disability harassment; discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, disability, and national origin; retaliation; and various other federal and state law claims. Cara Crotty also represents federal contractors covered by Executive Order 11246 in their affirmative action compliance obligations by assisting with Plan preparation ...
Mr. Daniel has since 1976 handled labor and employment problems in a wide array of industries. He has extensive experience in representing management in union organizational attempts as well as in conducting due diligence in mergers and acquisitions. He has represented management in numerous decertification matters. Mr. Daniel also has experience in the areas of contract negotiation, administration, and bargaining. He has tried cases before the NLRB and handled appellate cases under the NLRA....
William (Bill) Duda is certified as a specialist in Employment and Labor Law by the South Carolina Supreme Court and was included on the 2013 Best Lawyer list in both Employment Management and Litigation categories. Since 2000, Bill has been helping employers understand and comply with a broad range of employment laws, including Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, the FMLA, the FLSA, trade secret law, restrictive covenants and workers’ compensation. He regularly represents management in emplo...
Chris Gantt-Sorenson is a shareholder in Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd's Greenville office and serves as the employment law practice team leader, working exclusively with all types of employers, providing advice and counsel and representation when an employee or employees file a claim or a lawsuit. Chris advises employers and human resource professionals on issues that arise in the workplace daily. She defends clients in employment-related claims and litigation before administrative agencies, such ...
Brandon Gaskins maintains a broad practice that draws upon wide-ranging experience in litigation, land use, governmental, and employment matters. Realizing that no case or legal issue is exactly the same, Brandon applies his skills flexibly to offer clients strategic and innovative solutions. Brandon is an accomplished litigator with experience in complex business and contract disputes, land use and zoning disputes, and cases involving violations of non-competition, confidentiality, and other...
Gray Geddie is one of the founding shareholders of the firm. He served as the firm’s Managing Shareholder from January 2001 through January 2010. Under his leadership, the firm experienced unprecedented growth in terms of geography, professionalism, and client service. Ogletree Deakins is now the third largest labor and employment law firm in the United States. Following his term as Managing Shareholder, Gray returned to his practice in the Greenville office. He is a Fellow in the Colle...
Ted Gentry focuses his practice on counseling colleges and universities and on appellate litigation. Ted’s career handling complex litigation gives him valuable insights into the ways that today’s decisions affect tomorrow’s disputes. Ted has served education clients for over two decades, and has extensive appellate experience, including cases before the South Carolina Court of Appeals, the South Carolina Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and t...
Ben Glass is the Managing Shareholder in the Charleston Office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Ben earned his B.A. from the College of Charleston, and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of South Carolina School of Law. After a judicial clerkship with United States District Judge Henry M. Herlong, Jr., Ben joined Ogletree, Deakins in 1995. For the last 19 years, he has represented employers in all manner of labor and employment law issues, and spoken regularly on va...
An experienced litigator who represents management in labor and employment matters, Kristin Gray partners with employers in a variety of industries, including healthcare, retail, restaurant, hospitality, banking, and manufacturing. Kristin helps employers facing issues related to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims, employment policies, handbooks, leaves of absence, accommodation issues, employment contracts, separation agreements, wage and hour issues, and other workplace matt...
D. Michael Henthorne focuses his practice on representing clients in employment litigation. He has significant trial experience and has successfully appeared before both the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court. He also appears regularly in federal and state courts in South Carolina and before various regulatory and administrative tribunals, such as: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The Department of Labor The South Carolina Human Affairs Commission ...
Tom Keim has practiced exclusively in the areas of management labor and employment law since 1987. He represents clients in federal and state courts in many jurisdictions throughout the United States. His experience ranges from the representation of clients in employment litigation to advising clients on the legal issues related to union campaigns, strikes, and other employment-related matters. He also advises clients on the full spectrum of workplace issues. Tom is a South Carolina Supreme C...
Phillip Kilgore has been in the practice of litigation and labor and employment law in the Greenville office of Ogletree Deakins since 1986. Phillip has extensive litigation experience, representing clients in state and federal courts and administrative tribunals. He has handled a wide range of cases from traditional employment discrimination claims to tort claims and from environmental claims to shareholder derivative actions and minority shareholder disputes. Phillip also is an expert in ad...
Chris Lauderdale is a principal in the Greenville, South Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has represented employers in labor and employment matters for 30 years. Chris regularly defends employers in multi-plaintiff and collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Rule 23 class actions alleging violations of state wage payment, minimum wage, and overtime laws. He has defended more than 80 such asserted class and collective actions. This experience includes defending food ...
Jeffrey Lehrer is a partner in the law firm of Ford & Harrison LLP, which is one of the largest labor and employment law firms in the United States. He has been practicing labor and employment law exclusively since 1999 and has represented a diverse group of employers throughout the southeast. He works closely with clients to comply with constantly changing laws and shield their businesses from frivolous employment claims. The most common employment issues Jeffrey defends are discriminati...
Reyburn Lominack is a partner in the firm's Columbia office. He is certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court as a Specialist in Employment and Labor Law. Only 63 of the approximately 10,000 practicing attorneys in South Carolina carry this distinction. A significant percentage of Reyburn’s practice is devoted to representing employers in traditional labor matters, including union avoidance campaigns, grievance arbitrations, strikes/lockouts, successorship issues, collective bargaini...
Fred Manning is a partner in the firm's Columbia office. He has extensive experience litigating employment law matters involving civil rights, contracts, and wrongful termination claims. He regularly provides advice and assistance to employers regarding the drafting and enforcement of restrictive covenants, employment contracts and corrective action. Fred has assisted employers throughout the United States in union related matters. He also has extensive experience in representing private coll...
Ellison F. McCoy is the office managing principal of the Greenville, South Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He is engaged exclusively in the practice of employment law on behalf of management. Ellison has represented employers in litigation matters before state and federal administrative agencies and various state and federal trial and appellate courts. During his legal career, Ellison has handled a wide-variety of employment matters involving claims such as discrimination based on race...
Mr. McDonald is a shareholder in the Greenville office and practices primarily in the area of employment litigation. He was certified as a specialist in employment and labor law by the Supreme Court of South Carolina in 2006. Mr. McDonald represents a variety of employers in employment litigation matters ranging from breach of employment contracts to cases involving discrimination in areas of race, sex, age, and disability in both individual and class actions. He also counsels employers regar...
Stephen Mitchell is managing partner of the firm's Columbia office. His practice emphasizes traditional labor law and employment litigation. Steve started his career as a prosecutor, gaining valuable trial experience. He has handled administrative charges and lawsuits in state and federal courts involving wrongful discharge, Title VII, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Family and Medical Leave A...
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, mana...
Chris Ogiba is a versatile litigator who focuses on high stakes matters for a variety of institutional, corporate, and individual clients. He is a go-to trial attorney for several Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, retail entities, construction firms, industrial concerns, and real estate developers. Chris is an experienced civil litigator and trial attorney who has successfully represented a wide variety of clients in state and federal court and in arbitrations. As the chair of th...
Jon Pearson is a partner in the firm's Columbia office. His practice emphasizes employment litigation of all types before state and federal courts, as well as traditional labor law. He has handled lawsuits and administrative charges involving wrongful discharge, Title VII, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), as well as many other types of employment-based claims. Jon has al...
Andy Satterfield is a Shareholder in the Greenville office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He practices in the areas of management labor and employment law and has substantial experience representing employers in the manufacturing, professional services, restaurant, health care, retail, and banking industries. Mr. Satterfield has handled cases involving employment discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin, age, genetic information, and disability; sexual harassment; wrongful discharg...
Stephanie E. Lewis is the Managing Shareholder of the Greenville, South Carolina office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Ms. Lewis frequently represents employers in employment litigation and matters pending before and against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has handled all aspects of employment law but has particularly focused on sexual harassment, pay discrimination, and disability discrimination issues. She regularly presents on employment-related topics to Bar and industry groups an...
Mr. Shetterly is the managing shareholder in the Greenville, South Carolina office. He has a blended practice, focusing on litigation and proactive advice to clients. In litigation, he focuses on the ultimate objective of the client and tries to streamline the approach to litigation to hone in on the core objectives and outcome determinative issues.Mr. Shetterly routinely provides training and real world advice to human resources teams, general counsels, and supervisors on best practices, par...
A certified specialist in labor and employment law, Nekki Shutt has been involved in the employment / human resources field for more than 20 years, beginning with her work in the personnel department of a publicly-traded property and casualty insurance company. While working for the company before and during her undergraduate studies at the University of South Carolina, Nekki eventually became the company's corporate recruiter, responsible for hiring approximately 225 employees on an annual b...
Mr. Smoak is a founding partner of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart.During more than 44 years of representing companies in labor and employment matters, he has personally handled approximately 300 union organizing and decertification campaigns. He has extensive experience in the development and implementation of preventive labor relations programs for clients in all regions of the country. He is among the one percent of U.S. lawyers listed in The Best Lawyers in America, and has a...
Charles T. ("Ted") Speth II is the Managing Shareholder of the firm's Columbia, South Carolina, office. He has concentrated his practice in employment-related litigation matters during his entire legal career. Ted has successfully defended employers in state and federal litigation throughout the United States. He has devoted a significant amount of time over the last decade to the representation of clients in class action litigation. Ted also provides training and preventive advice to employe...
Fred Suggs is a certified specialist in labor and employment law by the South Carolina Supreme Court. He is a founding lawyer of Ogletree Deakins, having been with the firm since its inception. Mr. Suggs helps companies avoid work-related legal exposure by giving preventive advice and providing training for managers at client locations. Mr. Suggs speaks regularly at employment law conferences, Bar Programs for other lawyers, Association of Corporate Council Meetings, SHRM Conferences for Huma...
Hagood Tighe is a partner in the firm's Columbia office. He practices exclusively in the area of labor and employment law, representing management in traditional labor matters and employment litigation. Hagood is a member of the firm's class and collective action group. In recent years, Hagood has handled approximately 25-30 class and collective actions throughout the country. The vast majority of his class and collective experience is in the wage and hour area.While he maintains an active li...
Stephen Woods represents companies in all aspects of labor and employment law. He assists national, regional, and local clients on counseling/preventive, EEOC and employment litigation, and traditional labor (union) issues and questions. He is the chair of the firm's Background Check Advice Group and the shareholder-author of the firm's O-D Comply: Background Check subscription materials.Stephen lives by a client-centric mantra which combines prevention and practicality to create innovative, ...
Laura Ahrens is an associate in the Greenville, South Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Laura represents employers in workplace law matters, and enjoys collaborating with her clients to find practical solutions to the variety of issues that arise in the workplace. Laura is a member of the firm’s Litigation practice group. She represents employers in various employment and labor matters, including claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation brought under Title VII and the ...
Ben Dudek is an employment attorney in the Columbia office who uses his legal and legislative experience to assist clients with their workplace matters. He is very active in defending employers against administrative charges and lawsuits in state and federal courts. Ben represents clients in matters involving the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); Title VII discrimination, retaliation, and harassment; the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)...
Matthew Korn is an attorney in the firm’s Columbia office representing employers in all areas of employment, labor and health and safety law. Matthew litigates both single-plaintiff and class and collective actions arising under a variety of federal and state employment laws. Matthew advises clients on day-to-day employment issues arising under statutes such as Title VII, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employ...
Phillips McWilliams is a litigator who makes sure he understands his client’s business objectives. He provides a tailored approach to each issue or case a client brings to him with the goal of ensuring the client can reach those objectives, thus ensuring a satisfactory result. Ultimately, he understands that each company he represents is a business that serves the community and the company can only continue its business if he works to find creative, long-term solutions to their problems...
Brianna Schill's legal practice is focused on providing tailored solutions to management clients facing employment law disputes. Prior to joining FordHarrison, Brianna served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of South Carolina. In this role, she gained valuable trial and appellate experience by conducting case investigations, representing the State in evidentiary and motion hearings, drafting appellate petitions, returns, and briefs, and arguing before the South Carolina Court of...
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