Editorial: Management Labour & Employment in Texas

01 May 2007

This section identifies private  practitioners with an established record  representing and advising management on all  aspects of labour, employment and industrial relations law. Many also have extensive experience in litigation involving class actions, employment discrimination laws, sexual harassment, employee loyalty, wrongful discharge, “whistle-blower” actions, individual employment contracts and work-related tort claims. 

Baker Botts LLP leads the way, with four of the firm’s partners making the grade. Richard Brann chairs the labour and employment practice group at this Texas powerhouse. Recent representative cases have seen him prevail at trial and on appeal in the successful defence of an employer in an age and disability discrimination case in which direct evidence of unlawful discrimination was alleged. He has also assisted an employer in bankruptcy in its negotiation of a new labour agreement for all of its unionised employees and helped the employer gain bankruptcy court approval of the new labour agreement; and he has helped an employer hire and retain several desirable employees by defeating repeated requests for injunctions by the employees’ prior employer alleging unfair competition. Three colleagues join Brann in this chapter. The “excellent” Chapman Smith has represented American Airlines in Railway Labor Act matters, CenterPoint Energy in race, sex, national origin and age discrimination class actions and Holly Corporation in union merger and acquisition, and union contract negotiation. Teresa Valderrama was described to us as a “young and very fine lawyer”, who concentrates on representing management in workplace claims and employee-related disputes. She has represented, among others, a major oil company in whistleblower, workplace tort and discrimination trials, and a major university in discrimination and workplace tort cases; as well as providing general employment advice. Tony Rosenstein completes the firm’s contingent in this chapter. Rosenstein is “top-notch” for both litigation and counselling and his clients include major national oil and gas, insurance, and banking companies. 

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP is also well placed to offer a choice of quality advisers. The firm picks up four of the slots in the chapter. Robert Sheeder is a “very well respected employment litigator” from the Dallas office. He also counsels management in all aspects of labour and employment law. Representative clients include Towers Perrin. Tullos Wells is managing partner in the San Antonio office. With a practice focusing on the representation of management in labour and employment matters, Wells also heads up the sports and entertainment practice, with clients that include the NBA San Antonio Spurs and WNBA San Antonio Silver Stars. In labour and employment matters he has successfully defended an age discrimination claim Forehand v Harte-Hanks Communications Inc and successfully defended workers’ compensation discrimination and federal pre-emption claim in Ruiz v Miller Curtain Company. George Parker is based in the San Antonio office and is “one of the deans of labour and employment law in Texas” with an “outstanding reputation”, according to a fellow nominee. Parker can rely upon his “vast experience” in appellate cases and has worked extensively for airlines and railroads under the Railway Labor Act. Amy Karff Halevy is the head of the firm’s labour and employment section and is based in Houston. Described to researchers as a “very good lawyer and a natural speaker”, Halevy represents employers in litigation and complaints before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Texas Commission on Human Rights. 

Fulbright & Jaworski LLP boasts a “cohesive and highly skilled team”. Led in the voting by John Harper, head of the firm’s labour and employment law department, the individuals we list represent “one of the largest and most respected firms in Texas”. Houston-based Harper represents employers in all manner of labour and employment matters and is “well known in labour circles”. Clients and peers commented frequently on his “excellent people skills” praising him as “a pleasure to work with”. Brian Greig heads the firm’s labour and employment practice in the Austin office and is seen by one source as “first rate – the best, no question”. With particular expertise in trade secret and restrictive covenant matters Greig represents management and has also defended clients in race, national origin, sex, ADA and age cases in federal jury trials. Philip Pfeiffer is in the San Antonio office and is a former head of the office’s labour and employment practice. Pfeiffer is “well respected” in the market and represents employers in traditional management–union matters and complex discrimination cases. 

National firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC also performed well in the research – three of its members make it onto our list. “Top-flight” Jeffrey Londa represents clients in complex employment litigation, collective bargaining and arbitraanalysis: tions, and he applies “great knowledge and exceptional people skills” to his work. John McFall in Dallas represents management exclusively in litigation and advisory work. The “first-rate” Michael Fox represents employers in litigation across the state. He provided a successful defence of what was Texas’s first male-on-male sexual harassment case. He also assists employers in designing and implementing alternative dispute resolution programmes and represents his clients in employment arbitrations. 

Vinson & Elkins LLP has two practitioners in the chapter. A competitor praised the firm for its “solid group of experienced and skilled lawyers who routinely do a fine job defending the interest of large employers in complex cases”. Clients include Halliburton, whom the firm represented in the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in a complex case involving employment litigation issues. Carl Jordan is the most highly nominated practitioner in the research and, according to one source, is “one of the top of the lawyers in the South West”. Jordan is general counsel of the Texas Employment Law Council and conference chair and director of the American Employment Law Council. He represents management and his clients include companies in the construction and engineering, energy services, high-tech, manufacturing, financial services, airline, pharmaceutical, forestry, oil and gas, and insurance industries. Douglas Hamel co-heads the firm’s employment litigation and labour group with Jordan and is rated as a “top-drawer practitioner”. Hamel also represents management in all areas of labour and employment law and has acted for companies including a major oilfield services provider and a major life insurer. 

Baker & Hostetler LLP counts employment law as one of its core strengths. This is borne out in our chapter. The firm counts among its clients high-profile companies such as Boeing, Ford, Sprint Nextel and IBM. Nancy Patterson received plaudits from both clients and peers, with at least one source having a “high regard for her skills”. Patterson is co-coordinator of the Houston office employment and labour practice group and represents employment clients in the health care, transportation, telecommunications, energy, construction, accounting and chemical manufacturing industries. Lisa Pennington is the managing partner of the Houston office with a focus on representing management in employment cases involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment and employee wrongdoing, employee benefits, and discrimination matters. 

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP also fields two of its number on the following pages: John Jansonius and Laura Franze. Jansonius “should be at the top of everyone’s list” and has a strong trial practice that has seen him represent the defendants in numerous jury and non-jury trials in state and federal court. Jansonius has also presented arguments to the US Supreme Court and several federal courts of appeals in discrimination, wrongful discharge, and unfair labour practice claims. A frequent speaker and writer, Jansonius is a contributing author to an ABA treatise regarding the Railway Labor Act. Franze is co-leader of the firm’s labour and employment practice group and, like Jansonius, is a “great writer”. Her practice focuses on representing management in federal and state employment litigation, contract negotiation and administration, and union organisation campaigns. She has been first chair in cases including: United States v Cinemark USA Inc EEOC v Pinnacle Nissan et al and OPVA et al v Regal Cinemas Inc et al. Franze also provides labour and employment counselling. 

Haynes and Boone LLP has a strong labour and employment practice that counts Energy Worldwide, Texas Oil & Gas, Northrup Grumman and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club among its clients. The firm is home to “blockbusting” partner William Strock. Strock is a defence lawyer “with a great reputation” for complex class discrimination litigation and class action cases. Strock’s representative clients include Exxon Mobil Corporation, whom he defended in a classbased discrimination lawsuit. Arthur Carter was described to researchers as “top-notch” and he has experience in traditional labour law and employment litigation. (He is also an adjunct professor of Labour Law at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law). 

Littler Mendelson PC is a national firm devoted to the representation of management in employment, employee benefits, and labour law matters. Linda Headley is the managing shareholder of the Houston office and a “top-notch practitioner”, according to one source. Headley’s practice encompasses both litigation and counselling and she currently serves as chair of the state bar labour and employment section. Steven Mc-Cown has developed a reputation defending employers in proceedings brought under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Mc- Cown’s practice covers traditional labour law as well as employment litigation. 

The aforementioned firms have more than one representative in this chapter, but there are six lawyers whose exceptional ability draws attention to the firms in which they practice. William Keller from Hunton & Williams LLP is widely considered the “dean of labour and employment law in Texas”. Keller is editor-in-chief of the ABA International Labour and Employment Laws treatise, and he focuses on counselling and representing clients in all aspects of labour and employment law. 

Epstein Becker Green Wickliff & Hall PC prides itself upon its “boutique approach”, with labour and employment one of its five key competencies. The managing partner of the Houston office and chair of the firm’s labour steering committee, Martin Wickliffe, is an “outstanding trial lawyer”. Wickliffe has handled cases for companies in all manner of industries – representing management – and he provides clients with advice, run training and oversees internal investigations.

One source named Kemp Smith LLP as the firm most admired for their managementside labour and employment work, saying that it has “a small group of very talented lawyers who are consistently successful in defending troublesome employment disputes in a difficult and challenging venue”. Charles High is based in El Paso and has particular experience in the development of employment policies and practices to reduce the risk of litigation and every type of discrimination claim. 

Joseph Galagaza flies the flag for Jackson Lewis LLP, a firm that exclusively represents management in employment, labour, benefits and immigration law and litigation. Galagaza acts for clients in an array of labour and employment matters, both in court and in the boardroom – advising clients in preventive practices, conducting supervisory training seminars, and carrying out employee handbook and personnell policy reviews. Phillip Jones is resident in the Dallas office of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP. The firm’s labour and employment team has a stellar client list including names such as Deloitte & Touche LLP, Kimberly Clark and Nextel Comunications. Jones led the team that secured a landmark ruling in employment tort claims in Zeltwanger v Hoffmann LaRoche in the Texas Supreme Court and “is very well regarded in the market”. 

The “superb” Ted Meyer from Jones Day completes our list. His practice has an “impressive bandwidth”, which has seen him in the last year successfully represent Fortune 200 companies in litigation against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, draft a national compensation plan for a homebuilder, represent multiple employers in planning and conducting reductions in their workforce and successfully defend a number of audits by the Department of Labor.

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