Musings of a Longtime Employment Attorney
A seasoned practitioner passes along some useful tips on how to be a good employment attorney.
April 05, 2015 at 08:54 PM
5 minute read
So you want to be an employment lawyer? After almost 35 years of handling employment litigation and counselling, with some bumps along the way, I thought I would put pen to paper (do we do that anymore?), and pass along what I hope are some useful tips on how to be a good employment attorney.
Be Inquisitive
All litigators, and especially those who handle employment cases, first and foremost need to be inquisitive. Since discrimination claims often involve state of mind—for example, was it the plaintiff's age or job performance that caused the supervisor to recommend termination—both the plaintiff's attorney and defense counsel need to ask a lot of questions not only about the supervisor but also about others in the chain-of-command who might shed light on the issue.
Similarly, if a company's alleged legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for a termination is financial, you need to ask whether the CEO received a raise while the company was down-sizing? Was the company hiring employees into other positions? Did the company recently move to larger premises? I'll never forget one of my first age discrimination cases as a young lawyer in which a company claimed poor job performance as the reason for firing its human resources director in charge of its New Jersey facility. When the company refused to produce the executive for deposition here in New Jersey, I traveled to Massachusetts. On the way, it dawned on me to ask how compliant that location was with the EEO laws being administered by a younger HR Manager who had not been terminated. I obviously hit a raw nerve because the case quickly settled thereafter for a significant sum.
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Trending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: For Big Law Names, Shorter is Sweeter
- 2Wine, Dine and Grind (Through the Weekend): Summer Associates Thirst For Experience in 'Real Matters'
- 3The 'Biden Effect' on Senior Attorneys: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
- 4BD Settles Thousands of Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
- 5First Lawsuit Filed Alleging Contraceptive Depo-Provera Caused Brain Tumor
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250