Labor & Employment

Gardner Skelton has multiple institutional relationships and provides advice to company legal departments, human resources departments, and management on a wide range of employment issues. Also, C-Suite executives frequently hire the firm to advise and negotiate for them when they join a new company or leave their employment. These engagements often include negotiating high-value employment or severance agreements, understanding complex equity grants, assessing restrictive covenants, and negotiating pre-litigation settlements.

The firm maintains an active litigation practice, frequently representing companies and executives in federal court, the North Carolina Business Court, and the North Carolina Superior Court. Among the firm's employment litigation focuses are trade secrets, restrictive covenants (non-competes, non-solicits), employment-related contract disputes, and defense of discrimination/retaliation claims. As for general business litigation, the firm has litigated a wide range of contract disputes, corporate governance disputes, shareholder/member/partner disputes, franchisor/franchisee disputes, claims under the North Carolina Unfair & Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and disputes concerning business acquisitions.