Karen S. Elliott

Meeting of February 25, 2009 - on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Implementation of Title II of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008

Karen's practice spans counseling and trial work in the labor and employment area as well as a broad range of commercial litigation. She counsels and represents clients in all areas of employment law including investigation and defense of EEOC and DOL charges, drafting of employment contracts, handbooks and drug policies, providing coaching for terminations and management training for litigation and union avoidance. She also assists clients with issues relating to the numerous federal and state employment laws, including and beyond, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act and unemployment issues. Karen strives to provide practical legal advice to help employers formulate reasonable business solutions for their human resource challenges. She works with clients of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Karen's litigation practice focuses on defending employment law claims, non-competition claims, intellectual property disputes, as well as issues involving the Uniform Commercial Code, Fair Credit Reporting Act and Truth in Lending Act and breach of commercial, business contracts.

Karen has extensive litigation and trial experience in both employment law and commercial litigation cases. She has tried bench and jury trials to successful completion as well as been counsel in numerous mediations and arbitrations. She practices before all Virginia state and federal courts.

Additional Experience

• Provided numerous business and industry groups with in-house training and seminars on a variety of employment law issues
• Worked with clients nationwide and across Virginia to resolve Americans With Disabilities Act reasonable accommodation issues and compliance
• Extensive trial experience in Virginia State and Federal Courts, including state court jury trials, successful arguments before the Virginia Supreme Court, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as arbitrations and mediations
• Regularly invited to lecture on a variety of employment law issues. Speaking engagements include: Corporate Council Section, Virginia State Bar; Richmond Human Resources Management Association; Virginia 20/20; Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce; Virginia Union University, Franchise Institute
• Counseled clients on spoliation issues regarding electronic discovery
• Extensive experience with electronic data retrieval for litigation purposes
• Defended businesses undergoing wage and hour and I-9 compliance audits by the U.S. Department of Labor (in agreement with the Department of Homeland Security), as well as defends businesses before the EEOC and Virginia Employment Commission
• Provided strategies and documents for hundreds of successful employment terminations
• Closed down a major manufacturing plant in Southside Virginia which involved significant WARN and media issues
• Drafted a union agreement on behalf of a business in the construction industry that had a long-term union relationship

Additional Information
Karen began her career in Richmond at McGuireWoods leaving to join McSweeney Burtch & Crump, P.C., where after 11 years she left as a partner to work with another Richmond, Virginia firm which later became known as McCandlish Holton, P.C., where she was a partner.

Karen is an avid fly fisher and landscape photographer.

Concentration
Labor and Employment | Litigation, Commercial Litigation

Education
University of Virginia, J.D., 1986 George Washington University, B.A. with distinction, 1979

Memberships and Associations
Virginia State Bar
Virginia Bar Association
American Bar Association
Bar Association of the City of Richmond, Board of Directors 2005 - current, Member at Large
Metropolitan Richmond Women's Bar Association, President 1998 - 1999
Virginia SHRM State Council, Legislative Director, 2005 - 2008
National Society for Human Resources Management "SHRM")
Richmond Chapter of SHRM, Member
NOVA of Virginia Aquatics, Inc., President, 2006 - 2007
Fox Hall HOA President 2008 - 2009
Children's Home Society of Virginia, Board Member, 1993 - 2006
Virginia Chamber of Commerce Committee on Management Relations
Virginia Chamber of Commerce Committee on Business Task Force
Studying Unemployment Insurance in Virginia

Honors and Awards
"Legal Elite," Virginia Business Magazine, Labor and Employment, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Leadership Metro Richmond, Class of 2002-2003
BV* Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell