Representative Matters

• Assisted large regional healthcare group with human resource needs, including drafting employee policies and handbook, supervisor training, wage & hour advice, and drafting employment agreements (physician and employee).
• Drafting both employment and severance agreements for a variety of clients.
• Counseled local municipality with compliance issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Represented management in negotiating collective bargaining agreements and assisting clients with union campaigns and elections.

Representative Litigation

• Defended nation-wide package delivery company in a case filed under 42 U.S.C. §1981 involving allegations that the company terminated an independent contractor agreement because of race (including successful defense of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit).
• Obtained summary judgment in race discrimination and retaliation case against national logistics company.
• Defended regional charitable organization in case involving race, age and disability discrimination (summary judgment granted for employer).
• Favorably settled case for nation-wide retailer involving allegations that the employer failed to provide leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
• Represented municipal entity in Fair Labor Standards Act case (filed as collective action) involving allegations that the municipality failed to correctly pay overtime under the fluctuating workweek overtime system.
• Favorably settled another Fair Labor Standards Act collective action against nationwide e-tailer involving allegations that the employer failed to pay overtime.
• Defended regional restaurant operator (nation-wide chain) against allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation.

Education

1998 - J.D., University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law; Law Review Staff & Editorial Board, member of the National Moot Court Team, participated in Inn of Court, Moot Court and Mock Trial Competitions, recipient of the Dean's Distinguished Service Award (1997 and 1998), the West Book Award in Property and Torts, the CALI Awards in Property and Torts and the Dean's Awards in Property and Torts.

1994 - B.A., summa cum laude, University of Illinois, Springfield

Seminars

Frequent speaker on employment law issues including Fair Labor Standards Act (wage & hour law), sexual harassment, workplace investigations, selection/hiring and firing employees, the Family and Medical Leave Act, workplace violence, and social networking. 

Publications

• But I Don't Do Employment Law!
• Alphabet Soup
• "Lawyers Are Employers Too," The Federal Lawyer, November/December 2004
• Member of Editorial Board and contributor to The Federal Lawyer; "Lawyers and the New Electronic Frontier," Tennessee Journal of Practice & Procedure, 2001; "Who Controls The Cable?" Cable Television rules in light of the FCC's ECI Decision, Illinois Municipal Law Review, 1998
• Labor & Employment April 2008 Flyer
• Labor & Employment March 2008 Flyer
• Labor & Employment December 2008 Flyer

Professional Activities and Memberships

• Memphis, Tennessee, Illinois, Federal and American Bar Associations
• Member of the Editorial Board and contributing author to The Federal Lawyer
• Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 Mediator
• Mediator for Mediation and Restitution/Reconciliation Services (an alternative sentencing for juvenile court)

Admissions

• State of Illinois, November 5, 1998
• State of Tennessee, November 12, 1999 (date of introduction, November 11, 1999)
• United States District Court, Central District of Illinois, February 11, 1999
• United States District Court, Western District of Tennessee, March 10, 2000
• United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, February 28, 2002
• United States District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, January 20, 2005
• United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, August 27, 2001

Civic Involvement

• Member, Board of Directors, Page Robbins Adult Day Care
• Executive Board and Staff Parish Relations Committee, Christ United Methodist Church