Labor & Employment
We are labor and employment lawyers who try labor and employment lawsuits, counsel our clients on increasingly complex workplace laws and regulations, and represent our clients before federal, state, and local labor and employment agencies, such as the NLRB, the EEOC, and OSHA.
Our litigation practice includes complex executive compensation matters, class/collective actions, trade secret/unfair competition cases, breach of fiduciary duty and executive malfeasance cases. Our vast labor and employment litigation experience is the platform from which we provide advice and counsel to help our clients solve workplace challenges covering the entire range of employment issues. We focus both on traditional labor issues–including elections, contract negotiations, arbitration, strikes and lockouts–to employment law areas, such as discrimination, disability, Family and Medical Leave Act, workplace safety, and wage and hour issues.
We practice employment law backed by the resources of a full service firm in corporate, tax, bankruptcy, intellectual property, securities, employee benefits, oil and gas, media, complex litigation, cybersecurity, and all the areas offered by Jackson Walker’s over 300 attorneys. By blending our labor/employment subject matter experience with practitioners from these areas, we offer a unique blend of labor/employment subject matter know-how to handle complex litigation cases that cross disciplines, counsel clients on high level executive compensation matters, and offer practical solutions for business issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective. We empower our clients with this multi-disciplinary knowledge and experience, in the courtroom and the boardroom.
Our clients include international Fortune 100 companies, privately held companies of all shapes and sizes in media, retail, oil and gas, alternative energy, technology, entertainment and hospitality, trucking and delivery, financial and insurance, and manufacturers. Our cases range the full spectrum from “bet the company” cases to single plaintiff labor/employment lawsuits.
We are Texas lawyers, with all of our lawyers and offices in Texas. This gives us unparalleled knowledge of the Texas legal landscape, from county to county. It also drives our national practice because our clients regularly hire us to handle matters in other states. Our unique position also results in opportunities to represent international companies that find themselves faced with significant employment matters that require the resources of a full-service firm.
Within only the last two years, we have enjoyed the following successes for our clients:
- We tried a complex executive fraud/breach of fiduciary duty case,with significant counter claims against our client, to a jury for nearly four weeks. After we tried the rest of the case to the court, we ultimately prevailed with a $1.7 M judgment against the former executive, settling the case after that on extremely favorable terms.
- We decertified a 100-plus plaintiff collective action FLSA overtime case, and then tried the first group of those plaintiffs to a jury, resulting in a settlement during jury deliberations with which our client was very pleased.
- We tried a case against a labor union that was seeking millions of dollars in allegedly unpaid benefits and won so emphatically that the union did not appeal.
- We filed a computer fraud and abuse act against a former executive of a large, publicly traded company, and brought such force to bear in the case, using a team led by our labor/employment lawyers but including bankruptcy and e-discovery lawyers, that it settled very favorably 6 weeks after we filed it, with the executive losing millions of dollars in benefits as a result of a “cause” termination.
- We decertified an FLSA collective action that would have had nearly 100 plaintiffs, leaving it with only 7 named plaintiffs, against whom we ultimately won summary judgment.
November 3, 2022
Spotlight
Jackson Walker Earns 24 National and 121 Regional “Best Law Firms” Rankings in 2023 Edition
Jackson Walker proudly announces the Firm’s inclusion in the 2023 edition of the U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” list. This year, our firm improved in the national rankings, with the rise of Appellate Practice and Corporate Law to Tier 2.
October 25, 2022
Attorney News
‘Austin Monthly’ Lists 14 Jackson Walker Attorneys Among “Austin’s Top Attorneys” of 2022
Jackson Walker congratulates the 14 attorneys recognized among Austin Monthly’s list of “Austin’s Top Attorneys” for 2022. For recognition in the list, Austin attorneys must be nominated by their peers on the basis that they offer experienced counsel in one of 38 categories.
October 7, 2022
Attorney News
Dawn Holiday Joins Board of UH Alumni Association Foundation
Jackson Walker proudly congratulates Dawn S. Holiday on her selection as a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Houston Alumni Association Foundation.
October 3, 2022
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Welcomes 2022 New Fall Associates
This year, the firm proudly welcomes 18 law school graduates to expand our Bankruptcy, Restructuring, & Recovery, Corporate & Securities, Energy, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (ERISA), Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment, Real Estate, and Trial & Appellate Litigation practices.
September 21, 2022
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Congratulates Its 64 “Texas Super Lawyers” of 2022
Each year, less than 5% of attorneys in Texas are named to the list. Selection is based off of peer nominations that are then reviewed by a research team. Each nominee is evaluated on his or her professional accomplishments, peer recognition, and community involvement.
September 19, 2022
Insights
Hiring Foreign Professionals Could Help Alleviate U.S. Labor Shortage | Texas Lawyer
By Kelly Cobb
There are visa categories that can help alleviate the worker shortages for many industries by enabling the hiring of legal nonimmigrant workers.
September 6, 2022
Attorney News
‘Scene in S.A.’ Recognizes Jackson Walker Attorneys in 2022 “Best S.A. Lawyers” List
Jackson Walker congratulates the 42 practicing attorneys in the San Antonio office who were included in Scene in S.A.’s 2022 “Best S.A. Lawyers” list.
August 22, 2022
Attorney News
Lionel Schooler Elected to American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Council
Lionel “Lonnie” Schooler was elected as a council member of the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section. His three-year term will end on the last day of the 2025 ABA Annual Meeting.
August 19, 2022
Speaking Engagements
John Jansonius and David Schlottman to Present at 32nd Annual Labor and Employment Law Institute
During the 32nd Annual Labor and Employment Law Institute, John Jansonius and David Schlottman will present the latest developments related to labor law and wage and hour matters. Held at JW Marriott Hill Country Resort in San Antonio on August 26-27, 2022, the conference is presented by the Labor & Employment Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.
The Labor & Employment Dispatch newsletter from Jackson Walker provides news and insights in labor and employment law.
