Reed Smith

Why Reed Smith?

• In BTI Consulting Group’s “Litigation Outlook 2011: Changes, Trends and Opportunities for Law Firms,” Reed Smith is named as one of just seven firms ‘Prominently Recommended’ by litigation leaders in response to the question, “Could you tell me which firm you would recommend for litigation to someone else in your industry?”
• Following more than 550 interviews with corporate counsel at large and Fortune 1000 companies in the United States, Reed Smith was ranked first among 441 total law firms named for having the best relationships with large-scale clients. The BTI survey measured client relationship strength and client recommendation, and found that Reed Smith performed more than three times better than the average firm on both dimensions.
• In January 2010, Reed Smith’s Product Liability Group was named “Product Liability Litigation Department of the Year” by The American Lawyer magazine—the only law firm to have been named a finalist on three consecutive occasions, in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
• Won the Dubai Corporate Counsel Group (DCCG) Best Client Service award in 2009. The award was given by International Financial Law Review (IFLR) and the DCCG (the Emirate’s organization for top corporate counsel in the region) at the IFLR Middle East Awards. In June 2009, our team was voted Middle East Team of the Year at The Lawyer Awards.
• Fortune Magazine reported that Reed Smith represents four of the world’s five largest commercial and savings banks, and 11 of the world’s 12 largest pharmaceutical companies. • Named the #1 law firm for “Commercial Law and Contracts” in Altman Weil’s “Who Represents America’s Biggest Companies: The 2009 Survey.”
• Ranked among the top law firms for quality of service and work product, according to Corporate Counsel magazine. • Placed 2nd as “International Law Firm on the Year” two years in a row at The Lawyer Awards.
• In June 2011, The Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) named Reed Smith among just 32 law firms nationally to qualify for WILEF’s “Gold Standard Certification,” which designates those firms that have significantly represented women in positions of power and for whom women are among the top-earning attorneys. Reed Smith was one of only five of the United States’ largest 20 firms by attorney headcount that made the grade.
• Working Mother magazine named Reed Smith among the top law firms for working mothers.
• Received the Thomas L. Sager Award for the Western Region—perhaps the most prestigious recognition of a law firm’s diversity efforts—for its work in creating a more inclusive and open working environment.
• Finalist in the category of “Best Managed Firm” in the Managing Partner Forum’s “European Practice Management Awards.”
• Corporate University Best in Class (“CUBIC”) named Reed Smith University “Best New Corporate University” and “Most Innovative Corporate University” in the Fourth Annual CUBIC Awards

Reed Smith’s Global Footprint. Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with nearly 1,700 lawyers in 23 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises.

Labor & Employment Team

Using a practical, common-sense approach to resolving the myriad of legal and human relations issues surrounding employment, our Labor & Employment team advises and defends management in a wide range of industries, including financial services, manufacturing, health care, insurance, telecommunications, energy, pharmaceutical and retail, on a daily basis. Whether we are providing employment counseling, defending single-plaintiff litigation, offering collective bargaining advice, or representing clients in class action litigation, our attorneys bring a wealth of experience and industry knowledge to the table. We understand that each client is unique, and we make sure we know your business so that we are best positioned to provide practical advice.

Employment Law Practice

With two offices in Virginia – Richmond and Falls Church – the employment law practice of Reed Smith covers employers throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. We are a member of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), a network of more than 3,000 labor and employment attorneys who practice in more than 100 countries and all 50 U.S. states. We work closely with the ELA to ensure that our clients’ legal matters are handled seamlessly wherever they do business.

Specialties and Services

Client Counseling and Training

As experienced and skilled litigators in the employment law field, we work closely with clients to identify potential liability issues and develop preventive strategies to avoid litigation in a wide range of employment law matters, including:

• Harassment and discrimination issues
• Privacy and defamation issues
• Accommodation and other disability issues
• Leave rights
• Hiring
• Discipline and Termination
• Non-compete and restrictive covenant issues
• Drug and alcohol issues
• Workplace violence
• Policy development

The first step in protecting the company is to be sure that effective policies are in place. Reed Smith employment attorneys work with clients to develop and/or review:

• Employee handbooks
• Interview guidelines
• Selection procedures
• Non-compete agreements and restrictive covenants
• Technology use (email, voicemail, and Internet) policies
• Harassment policies
• Severance

The second step is to train your management team and workforce. Reed Smith attorneys have extensive experience in conducting presentations and in training managers and employees on a host of employment topics, such as:

• Hiring and interviewing applicants
• Disciplining and terminating employees
• Conducting effective workplace investigations
• Eliminating and preventing workplace bias and harassment
• Complying with employment and leave statutes
• Understanding safety obligations in the workplace
• Administering layoffs and reductions in force
• Creating effective performance appraisal programs

Employment Litigation & Capabilities

As a leader in the defense of employment litigation, including in complex and class actions and government investigations, Reed Smith’s strength lies in the scope of our experience and commitment to efficient case management. We have successfully defended clients against all manner of employment claims, including those alleging:

• Discrimination
• Retaliation
• Harassment
• Wrongful discharge
• Wage and hour violations (e.g., misclassification and off-the-clock overtime claims)
• Defamation
• Whistleblower
• Violation of constitutional rights
• Negligence and breach of contract
• Breach of restrictive covenant

Employment Audits

To help our clients prevent employment lawsuits and other claims, we offer proactive measures through our compliance audit program. An employment compliance audit can identify areas of potential vulnerability with respect to all aspects of the employment relationship.

Executive Employment Issues

Our employment attorneys are highly skilled in drafting executive compensation agreements and advising on the various concerns frequently addressed in these agreements, which include:

• Salary, bonuses, profit sharing, stock options
• Life and health benefits
• Severance pay plans
• Trade secret agreements
• Competition restriction
• Solicitation of customers, suppliers and employers
• Intellectual property

Labor Law Practice

While the National Labor Relations Act is the basis for much of the work we do, Reed Smith labor attorneys also assist today’s employers in dealing with numerous federal, state and local statutes and regulations governing the workplace. To provide unified, clear focus and results, we continue to represent strictly the management side of labor matters, in virtually every industry, for every size and type of employer.

Maintaining a Union-Free Workplace

For many employers, maintaining a union-free workplace is a competitive advantage, and Reed Smith can provide the training, policy review and counsel to help. Too often, companies with union-free workforces neglect to seek legal advice concerning employment issues until unionization is imminent. Not only might these employers be inadvertently courting unionization, but they also might be ignoring myriad legal issues whose practical effects could include poor morale and even poorer productivity. We offer employers training and solutions in response to such complex legal issues. Reed Smith has worked with employers to provide alternatives to unionization, including:

• Assisting with the development of internal alternative dispute resolution systems to reduce outside litigation and the attractiveness of a union “grievance and arbitration procedure”
• Assisting employers with establishing and maintaining employee committees without violating applicable labor laws • Conducting periodic industry-specific training for managers and first-level supervisors regarding current issues in union organizing and the NLRB’s evolved rules
• Union Organizing Campaigns and Representation, Deauthorization and Certification

Organizing new members is a union’s life-blood, and the AFL-CIO has made no secret about its need and desire to increase its membership in targeted industries. The NLRB’s rules governing employers who face a representation petition often defy common sense, and an employer who is ignorant of those rules can find itself saddled with a union. Reed Smith regularly represents employers from the time authorization cards are first circulated, through the representation hearing process, campaign, and election. For example, we:

• Assisted a major heavy equipment manufacturer in defeating the Steelworkers’ union organized election involving more than 2,000 employees
• Represented a national energy provider in separate cases involving three unions with between 1,500 and 6,000 employees.

We were successful in all cases, and the employer remains the largest non-union company in its industry. We also represent employers whose employees have expressed an interest in decertifying and removing the union, or deauthorizing and removing the union dues requirement:

• Advised a major toy company whose 800 employees decertified the International Association of Machinists
• Represented a major transportation company whose employees decertified their bargaining representative at a major U.S. airport

Collective Bargaining

We typically fill one of three roles in assisting clients who are involved in collective bargaining negotiations with their unions:

• As a chief spokesperson of the employer at the negotiating table
• As an advisor and participant in the negotiations, with the chief spokesperson role filled by a representative of the company
• As a behind-the-scenes advisor with no direct role at the bargaining table

Collectively, the lawyers in our group are involved in the negotiation of more than 100 labor agreements each year. Frequently these negotiations result in increased employee cost-sharing for medical benefits, wage freezes in one or more years, wage increases tied to productivity gains and strong management rights and no-strike language.

Picketing, Strikes, Labor Injunctions and Labor-Related Litigation

Our objective in contract negotiations is always to get an agreement without work-stoppages, although occasionally they cannot be avoided. When a strike occurs, we advise employers on continuing operations, hiring replacement employees, unilaterally implementing the company’s final offer, and otherwise putting the employer in a position to “take charge” of the work stoppages. We also are experienced in quickly and efficiently obtaining the appropriate injunctions and other court orders limiting control of picketing, so that the employer’s operations may continue without disruption.

Labor Arbitrations

We represent most of our unionized clients in the arbitration proceedings under their collective bargaining agreements. We handle more than 300 labor arbitrations a year and are personally familiar with most of the major arbitrators who practice in the United States. In addition to routine discipline and discharge cases, we have been successful in arbitrations that have included:

• The right of a major steel supplier to transfer work from a union to non-union plant
• The right of a major waste collection company to unilaterally institute changes to its medical plans, including employee premium sharing
• The right of a major lubricant manufacturer to unilaterally institute a no-fault attendance policy
• The right of a major ceiling manufacturer to subcontract substantial portions of its operation