While many firms attempt to serve their clients’ employment needs by relying on more generalized practitioners, Ducker, Montgomery recognizes that today’s climate demands dedicated expertise in the area of employment law.  Our employment law specialists are well positioned to assist you, whether you find yourself faced with a lawsuit, require strategic input on decisions impacting your employees, are looking for assistance in conducting training or internal investigations or want to draft or revise an employment handbook, policies or contracts.

Employment Litigation.  Ducker, Montgomery’s employment team are seasoned litigators with extensive experience defending clients against claims in federal and state courts, in arbitration, and in federal, state and local agencies (EEOC, CCRD, DOL, CDOL, etc.).  We have represented clients accused of discrimination and/or harassment on the basis of race, gender, age, national origin, disability, religion, pregnancy, and military status, as well as retaliation, breach of contract, wrongful discharge, and intentional/negligence infliction of emotional distress.  We have both pursued and defended against claims of misappropriation of trade secrets and violation of restrictive covenants (covenants not to compete and/or not to solicit customers or employees).  While we do not shy away from aggressively defending our clients where necessary and appropriate, we are also mindful of the costs and distraction of litigation, and therefore we place a premium on early case assessment and evaluation.  Recent, successful outcomes achieved by our lawyers have included successfully defending an employer in arbitration against claims of race, age and national origin discrimination, securing summary judgment on claims seeking to invalidate a class action waiver provision, and obtaining discovery sanctions against the EEOC.

Proactive Counseling and Litigation Avoidance.  Our clients already recognize that there are risks inherent in most employment decisions – that’s why they call us in the first place.  We understand that our value comes not in our ability to point out risks our clients are already aware of, but rather to assist them in developing creative solutions that minimize those risks and help them achieve their business goals.  To position ourselves to best benefit our clients, we view it as imperative that we develop a thorough understanding of their companies’ businesses and objectives, so that we can truly act as partners and counselors.  We strive to give our clients a clear picture of the full spectrum of options and risks, so that they make the best decisions under the circumstances, with the goal of avoiding litigation.

Training.  Recognizing that the best defense against litigation is to promote awareness, Ducker, Montgomery’s employment lawyers devote significant time to training their clients on best practices and new developments in the law.  Recent training topics include leave management and FMLA/ADAAA compliance, sexual harassment prevention, creating good documentation, social media/technology in the workplace and managing reductions in force, among others.  We tailor training programs for a wide variety of audiences, ranging from sophisticated in house counsel, experienced human resources professionals and corporate executives to employees with no legal, HR or management background.  Our training sessions emphasize practical application of the relevant laws and feature real world examples and hypotheticals.  We receive high marks not only for the content, clarity and value of our programs, but also for making them enjoyable for participants.