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Ms. North is a shareholder in the Firm’s Labor and Employment Group. She focuses her practice on counseling, mediating, arbitrating and litigating a variety of employment issues including sexual harassment, race and sex discrimination, age discrimination, disability discrimination, family medical leave, and wage and hour claims. Much of her practice is devoted to the development, implementation and enforcement of mandatory arbitration programs. She has successfully defended challenges to these programs in both federal and state courts around the country. Ms. North is also experienced in defending complex, multi-plaintiff and pattern and practice cases, including successfully defeating Title VII and 42 U.S.C. 1981 class action discrimination cases. Her clients include large, publicly traded corporations with nationwide operations. She counsels employers to avoid litigation by utilizing appropriate anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and procedures, affirmative action compliance policies, disparate impact analyses, employment contracts and employee handbooks. Prior to attending law school, Ms. North worked as an Equal Employment Opportunity Analyst for the Commonwealth of Virginia. She also maintained her own human resource consulting business, working with clients regarding wage and hour and discrimination issues. Legal Experience LeClairRyan, Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia, 2006 present Kaufman & Canoles, Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia, 2001 2006 LeClair Ryan, Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia, 1998-2001 Education University of Richmond T.C. Williams School of Law, J.D., 1998, cum laude George Washington University, M.B.A., 1992, cum laude Old Dominion University, B.S., Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Business Management, 1989, cum laude Extended Information Representative Matters One of lead counsel in race discrimination class actions involving pattern and practice and disparate treatment allegations filed under 42 U.S.C. Section 1981 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, within the Fourth and Eleventh Circuits. Successfully defeated certification of classes and won summary judgment on remaining multiple plaintiff cases. Member of successful appellate team in the United States Supreme Court case of Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams, 532 U.S. 105 (2001). Successfully compelled into arbitration numerous plaintiffs around the country who were bound by agreement to arbitrate employment-related disputes, including compelling individual plaintiffs into arbitration who have filed as part of a class action. Won over 25 arbitrations around the country involving various state and federal claims such as age, race, sex, national origin, disability and religious discrimination, as well as covenants not to compete, breach of contract, wrongful termination, wage and hour claims, family medical leave, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery, defamation, and false imprisonment Speaking Engagements Learning to Think and React Like a Seasoned Employment Lawyer, Virginia Bar Association Annual Meeting, January 2007 Mandatory Arbitration, American Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, October 2002 Published Works Does Pretext Plus Age Equal the Sum of the Judgment, 31 U. Rich. L. Rev. 847 (May 1997) Honors and Awards Listed in Virginia Business magazine’s Legal Elite , 2004-2006 Selected as a Rising Star in Virginia Super Lawyers, 2007 Professional Memberships American Bar Association: Member, Labor & Employment Section Richmond Bar Association Williamsburg Bar Association Society for Human Resource Management Admissions Virginia Place of Birth Opelika, Alabama. |
