The Legal 500

The recent financial crisis continues to impact the practices of labor and employment lawyers across the United States. Employee benefit plans constitute the largest sources of equity capital and undisclosed corporate liabilities in the world. Plans, their employer sponsors and their fiduciaries are being targeted at an increasing rate. The best Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) litigators must have knowledge of labor, employment, securities, healthcare and insurance law at their fingertips to be able to advise on every aspect of this highly complex area of law. Cases range from challenges to 401(k) plan fee structures and suits over plan investments in proprietary mutual funds to suits over 401(k) plan investments in company stock, including Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and modifications to retiree welfare benefits. Firms must deal with disputes concerning medical care reimbursement mechanisms, conversions to cash balance pension plans, severance and termination pay disputes arising from M&A and suits over defined benefit plan amendment and benefit computation. Further areas of expertise required in this field include advising on disputes concerning worker classification issues and challenges to ESOP transactions. The firms in this table have embraced the area in different ways; either as part of a wide-ranging employment litigation practice or as part of a specialist employee benefits practice. Whatever their approach, the practices listed concentrate on the defense and arbitration of ERISA claims on behalf of companies, and are assessed on their size, depth and national reputation as well as the range and complexity of caseloads.

Immigration lawyers continue to be busy, advising companies on a variety of counselling, specialized projects and nuts and bolts transactional work. The recession and the beginnings of the recovery brought a particular variety of contrasting work ranging from assisting with the immigration implications of reductions in force, to assisting companies with hiring groups of specialized foreign nationals in order to manage the resumption or initiation of major projects. At the same time, the sharp increase in government enforcement, as the new administration found its footing, generated extensive work in connection with government audits and investigations led by both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL). In another trend, as major financial services companies repaid bailout (TARP) funds, immigration lawyers were called on to counsel them on the immigration implications and on how to ensure that enhanced statutory restrictions would no longer apply to them. Immigration practices range in size from global offerings to just a handful of partners, yet the nature of the work involved means that it is not the size of the team, but the type of clients serviced which really demonstrates the quality of a practice. The firms listed are those which have performed high-level or complex work in this area, and which clients have highlighted as particularly worthy of recognition.

The number and scope of employment-related class actions has increased dramatically in recent years, especially in the areas of wage and hour, discrimination, and most recently, employee benefits. In the last few years alone, class and collective actions, at both the federal and state levels, as well as other multi-party lawsuits, have cost employers hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments and settlements. There continues to be a growing divide in the market between full-service firms who offer particular strength in employment litigation on one hand, while on the other, there are boutique firms whose sole concentration is labor and employment law. There are benefits and drawbacks to both approaches, but it should be noted that there are some concerns that in their rush to expand into major cities, often by subsuming smaller firms, some boutiques have not maintained the same level of quality across all offices. The boutique firms listed are those clients have judged to offer the best possible balance between lower fee structures and high-quality representation.

The convergence of a pro-labor US government and the global economic meltdown has created considerable friction between businesses and their workforces. This challenging area of law is changing. By way of example, President Obama has already implemented a number of pro-labor executive orders that include: Executive Order 13496 (Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws), Executive Order 13495 (Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts), Executive Order 13494 (Economy in Government Contracting) and Executive Order 13502 (Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects). Many US firms have turned their backs on traditional labor law, favoring employment law instead. As a result there are only a few with a strong national presence able to take advantage of these developments. Those that have maintained a significant traditional labor practice have been dealing with an increase in corporate campaigns aimed at management. In addition to training employers on the possible consequences of the Employee Free Choice Act, they represent clients in collective bargaining, arbitrations and unfair labor practice proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board. The practices listed in this table have been assessed on the range and complexity of their labor work along with feedback from clients.

Recently there has been a sharp rise in the number of reductions in force and restructurings, with companies requiring advice on how to target potential layoffs in order to avoid claims of adverse impact on any single group of employees. The need for counseling on wage and hour, Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower and equal employment opportunity issues shows no sign of slowing down. Firms have also been advising their clients on the likely developments in employment and labor law under the Obama administration. In particular, it has been noted that safety and health issues are at the centre of the Obama administration’s commitment to greater workplace regulation and enforcement. Every labor and employment lawyer in the US offers, to some degree, counseling to his or her clients. The firms and individuals mentioned in this section though offer a dedicated counseling service, attested to by their clients. These rankings should be read alongside the ‘Labor and Employment Litigation’ section, since the issues that arise in the courtroom are often those on which clients are looking for additional guidance in order to reduce their potential exposure.