Ogletree Deakins

Ogletree Deakins is one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management in all types of employment-related legal matters. U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” has named Ogletree Deakins a “Law Firm of the Year” for 11 consecutive years. In 2022, the publication named Ogletree Deakins its “Law Firm of the Year” in the Employment Law – Management category. Ogletree Deakins has more than 900 attorneys located in 53 offices across the United States and in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. The firm represents a diverse range of clients, including many of the Fortune 50 companies in the U.S. www.ogletree.com

Birmingham

Richard Carrigan is an enthusiastic litigator in state and federal courts as well as before administrative agencies. He tries jury and bench trials in federal districts throughout Alabama, and in the Northern District of Florida as well as state courts from Mobile to Huntsville, from Fayette to Dothan, and many other venues. Richard has tried matters before administrative law judges of the NLRB and the US Department of Labor, and has argued federal appeals to the Fifth Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit. Matters defended include a range of disputes from disparate impact or “pattern and practice” claims affecting thousands of employees, to malicious and fraudulent attacks.

T. Scott Kelly provides practical solutions for federal contractors and subcontractors across the United States to comply with the ever-changing affirmative action obligations imposed by doing business with the federal government. He advocates on behalf of his clients in compliance evaluations and administrative enforcement actions triggered by the United States Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Kelly assists manufacturing, transportation, construction, food processing, hospitality, healthcare, and financial institutions with creative solutions for preparing, managing, and defending their affirmative action programs and related matters, including jurisdictional analyses and preventative strategies.

James A. Patton, Jr. is a shareholder in the Birmingham, Alabama office of Ogletree Deakins and a member of the firm’s Affirmative Action/OFCCP Compliance Practice Group. He focuses his practice on assisting federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with legally-mandated employment and reporting obligations, as well as defending compliance reviews and enforcement proceedings brought by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the United States Department of Labor (USDOL). In addition to focusing on affirmative action compliance, he has spent more than twenty years advising companies on a variety of workplace.

James C. Pennington is a founding member of the Birmingham Office of Ogletree Deakins. For more than two decades, he has represented employers in a wide range of labor and employment law matters, including administrative agency charges, federal and state court litigation, union campaigns and collective bargaining. He helps employers avoid workplace disputes by providing management training and developing defensive documentation such as effective employee handbooks, dispute avoidance and resolution policies, and drug and alcohol testing policies and procedures. He is known for helping employers navigate through the intersections of disabilities and leave laws.

Nashville

Keith Frazier represents management in the area of labor and employment law, with an emphasis on employment litigation, including collective actions under the FLSA and the ADEA. Frazier has been counsel in over 20 jury trials, and he has experience trying collective actions in federal court before a jury and in an arbitration setting. He has also handled over 40 arbitrations arising under collective bargaining agreements. In 2005, Keith was elected to the Firm’s Board of Directors and served until 2011. He also served a three year term on the Firm’s Board from 2014 until 2017.

Jonathan O. Harris is Managing Shareholder of the firm’s Nashville offce. He represents management in a wide variety of employmentrelated matters. In addition to defending single-plaintiff lawsuits, he also represents employers in class and collective actions. He has handled countless EEOC charges and defended employers in lawsuits brought by the EEOC, including matters where the agency has asserted systemic claims on behalf of multiple claimants. He is a frequent speaker on topics relating to all types of employment issues, and he works with clients on preventive strategies to avoid discrimination, retaliation and other employment claims.

Timothy A. Palmer is a shareholder who works in both the Nashville and Birmingham offces, and is a founding shareholder of the Birmingham offce. He is an experienced litigator who focuses his practice on both employment litigation and general civil litigation in state and federal courts. His practice focuses on the defense of employment litigation including discrimination claims, defense of personnel actions, and defense of employee benefit disputes. He is a frequent speaker for the Alabama Bar Institute on Continuing Legal Education, where he has lectured on jury selection procedures and employment litigation.

William S. Rutchow is a shareholder in the firm’s Nashville offce who currently concentrates his practice in three areas: Workplace Safety and Health, Unfair Competition/Trade Secrets, and Employment Litigation. He also has experience in commercial litigation, personal injury litigation, and NLRB proceedings. Rutchow is a member of the firm's Ethics Committee, the Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Practice Group, the Workplace Safety Practice Group, the Traditional Labor Law Practice Group and the Litigation Practice Group. He is a frequent author and speaker on employment-related topics.

Elizabeth S. Washko is a shareholder in the Nashville offce and co-chair of the firm’s Pay Equity Practice Group. She represents management in a wide variety of employment matters, at the agency level and in litigation. She has experience defending employers in FLSA collective actions, pay discrimination cases (individual plaintiff and class/collective actions) and conducting proactive pay audits and pay equity analyses. She has served as lead counsel in jury trials in state and federal courts. Washko also conducts training on employment issues, drafts and reviews employment policies and agreements, and conducts harassment and other types of investigations for employers.

Atlanta

Margaret H. Campbell is a shareholder in the Atlanta offce and has practiced employment, litigation, and labor law at Ogletree since 1981. An all-around labor and employment lawyer, Meg is particularly recognized for her experience in complex class and collective action litigation, whistleblower investigations and litigation including Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank cases, appellate practice, and restrictive covenant law. She has litigated single plaintiff, multi-plaintiff, and class and collective action jury and non-jury cases in federal and state courts around the country.