Thirteen Fisher & Phillips Attorneys Selected to The Best Lawyers in America 2015

From Fisher & Phillips

Thirteen attorneys from the Midtown office of Fisher & Phillips LLP have been selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015® (Copyright 2014 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.). All of the attorneys were honored for their labor and/or employment work unless otherwise noted below. A total of 86 Fisher & Phillips attorneys from across the nation were selected.

Midtown attorneys include Managing Partner and Chairman of the firm’s Management Committee Roger K. Quillen, Managing Partner of the firm’s Midtown office D. Albert Brannen, Burton F. Dodd, Donald B. Harden, C. L. “Tex” McIver, Ann Margaret Pointer, Thomas P. Rebel, Douglas R. Sullenberger, John E. Thompson, Kim Kiel Thompson, for her immigration law work, Joshua Viau, Marion Walker and James M. Walters.

Biographical Information

Roger K. Quillen is a partner in the Midtown office and is the Managing Partner and Chairman of the firm’s Management Committee. His practice involves litigation covering a wide variety of employment discrimination issues, employee welfare benefit plans, the Railway Labor Act and issues arising before the NLRB and the EEOC. His special emphasis is in federal appellate litigation. Quillen has argued cases in most of the federal courts of appeals, with subject matter ranging from review of NLRB decisions to class actions arising from changes in retiree health insurance plans. He also represents employers in collective bargaining and counsels them on strategies designed to prevent claims and lawsuits. From 1990 until 2001, Roger co-authored Labor and Employment Law in Georgia (LEXIS Publishing). He has received repeated recognition in Georgia Super Lawyers and as a member of Georgia’s “Legal Elite.” He has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in Americasince 2006. Quillen has been named one of “The Nation’s 100 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys” by Human Resources Executive Magazine every year since 2009.

D. Albert Brannen is the managing partner in the Midtown office. Since 1982, he has represented employers exclusively in successfully solving labor and employment law problems in the workplace. Much of his time is devoted to counseling employers about how to avoid workplace crises, comply with all applicable laws and prevent litigation. Brannen also has a depth of experience advising employers on union-related matters and in assisting employers with the administration, negotiation, mediation and arbitration of collective bargaining agreements. He has successfully represented clients in formal administrative proceedings before the NLRB, EEOC, DOL and in federal and state courts. He also teaches labor and employment law at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Burton F. Dodd is a partner in the Midtown office. For more than 30 years, he has successfully defended colleges and universities, independent schools, multi-national manufacturers, hospitals, professional medical groups, textile manufacturers, telecommunications corporations and other employers throughout the United States against claims for employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful discharge brought in federal and state courts and administrative agencies. Dodd also has defended employers against claims of disability discrimination, ERISA, FMLA, and FLSA violations, Equal Pay Act violations and whistle-blower retaliation, as well as against state tort and contract claims. He has extensive experience in federal and state trial and appellate courts. Dodd participates in the National Association of College and University Attorneys, and a major underwriter of employment practices liability insurance for higher education designated him as outside employment counsel for its insured universities, colleges, and independent schools. He is member of the firm’s Education Practice Group and of the School and College Law Section of the Georgia Bar.

Donald B. Harden is senior counsel in the Midtown office. His practice emphasizes trials and appeals in class actions and complex litigation, including employee benefits and employment standards cases. He is a member of the Federalist Society and the Defense Research Institute.

C. L. “Tex” McIver is a partner in the Midtown office. In his 30 year career, McIver has assisted clients nationally and internationally in their compliance efforts involving all federal and state employment laws. He advises employers concerning mergers and acquisitions, consolidation and streamlining (“rightsizing”) of organizations. McIver also has successfully defended employers in more than 200 union organizing campaigns, and he regularly handles contract negotiations, arbitrations, defense of corporate campaigns and the full range of strikes, lockouts and other interruptions of work. He was selected by Atlanta Lawyer magazine as one of the “top legal minds” in the city. In 2012, McIver was appointed by the Georgia Attorney General to serve as Special Assistant Attorney General representing Gov. Nathan Deal and the State in the matter of Coleman et al. v Deal and Jackson. He was awarded the 2012 Highest Effort Award from Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for his achievement in the field of law. In 2013, the fraternity honored him with The Order of the Lion Award, the third-highest award a member can receive from Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, for his service in helping to establish an SAE chapter at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Ga. Before entering private practice, McIver served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General. During that time, he was awarded the U.S. Air Force Meritorious Service Medal for his recognition as a trial lawyer and then in 1971 the Bronze Star Medal for combat related service in Republic of South Vietnam.

Ann Margaret Pointer is a partner in the Midtown office. She has represented management in labor and employment matters for more than 30 years. As counsel to many U.S. companies and U.S. subsidiaries of global companies in a variety of businesses, her areas of practice include advising on compliance issues and defending employers against class, collective and individual discrimination, pay, retaliation and harassment complaints and lawsuits under Title VII, Section 1981, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, H-2A temporary foreign agricultural worker program, Occupational Safety and Health Act and many other federal and state employment and discrimination laws. She also is experienced in collective bargaining negotiations, and she works with clients under threat of expensive class and collective action lawsuits to investigate claims and to resolve them without the expense, disruption and other adverse consequences of filed litigation. Pointer has served since 2002 as an adjunct professor at the Emory University Law School in Atlanta, where she teaches pretrial litigation.

Thomas P. Rebel a partner in the Midtown and Fort Lauderdale offices. He practices extensively in the areas of wage and hour, affirmative action, education and disability law. He also has handled many NLRA matters, including representation and unfair labor practice cases and matters arising under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. He is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, he has authored articles on preemption under ERISA, and he was co-editor of a compendium of labor and employment articles for the National Association of College and University Attorneys.

Douglas R. Sullenberger is a partner in the Midtown office. His practice focuses on traditional labor law, including representing and advising employers on union related matters. He is “AV” Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers since 2009. Sullenberger also has been listed by the Labor Relations Institute (LRI) as one of the “Top 100 Labor Attorneys” in the U.S. and in The Best Lawyers in America since 2013.

John E. Thompson is a partner in the Midtown office. His practice focuses on wage and hour law, emphasizing issues relating to minimum wage, overtime, timekeeping and wage-payment requirements. He assists employers in preventive efforts designed to ensure compliance, and he handles both investigations conducted by government agencies and litigation in the wage and hour area. Thompson has served as a Special Assistant Attorney General for wage-hour matters for the State of Georgia. He also has addressed wage-hour topics in presentations to numerous employer groups and in articles appearing in both human resources publications and industry journals.

Kim Kiel Thompson is a partner in the Midtown office. She serves as chair of the firm’s Global Immigration Practice Group and co-chair of the International Employment Practice Group.

Thompson’s practice focuses on immigration and nationality law; she began practicing in this area in 1990. Her practice includes extensive visa work, handling both temporary and permanent visa cases, as well as advice regarding compliance with the Form I-9, including government audits of I-9 forms and discrimination and document abuse provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the ABA-affiliated association for attorneys practicing immigration law.

She is a frequent lecturer and presenter on immigration topics and she also advises employers regarding best practices in immigration-related employment issues.

Joshua A. Viau is Of Counsel in the Midtown office. His practice focuses on representing companies in a variety of labor and employment matters, including defending employers in employment-related litigation, especially in the areas of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, compliance with leave and wage and hour laws and regulations and contract disputes involving restrictive covenants and trade secrets. Viau also advises and represents management in traditional labor matters including arbitrations, unfair labor practice cases, union elections, contract negotiations, strikes and alternative dispute resolution. He also guides employers through reductions in force and individual employee separations to ensure that such actions are executed in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and in a manner that minimizes risk.

Viau also provides clients with services aimed at compliance and litigation avoidance, including creation and application of workplace policies and practices, training programs for management and employees, and workplace audits. He works with a variety of national and local clients, including employers in pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, construction, hospitality and retail.

Marion Walker is Of Counsel in the Midtown office, residing in Birmingham, Ala. She has practiced law for 36 years. She concentrates her practice in labor and employment defense matters and corporate litigation. Having tried at least 85 cases to verdict, Walker’s experience covers litigation in employment discrimination, executive employment agreements, equipment leasing agreements, financial transactions, fair housing, whistleblower retaliation and class and collective actions in multiple jurisdictions and forums. She has provided counsel on litigation avoidance to employers nationwide and also provides client presentations and training.

James M. Walters is a senior partner in the Midtown office. His practice has a strong emphasis on the representation of employers under the two principal federal labor laws, the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act. In addition to representing employers in various industries in both collective bargaining and arbitration matters, Walters devotes a substantial amount of his time to defending companies charged with unfair labor practices or similar claims in cases before the NLRB, the NMB and numerous federal courts. He also has represented employers in cases arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Fair Labor Standards Act and Family and Medical Leave Act. He has entered appearances in dozens of U.S. District Courts, and is admitted in all U.S. Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.