Daily Report Feature: Taylor English Expands Employment and Litigation Practices

In The Trenches:

By Meredith Hobbs, Staff Reporter

Taylor English Duma has added five new attorneys, including three labor and employment practitioners.

ERISA lawyer Carlton C. Pilger joined the firm’s labor and employment practice Jan. 14 as a partner from Miller & Martin. Randy C. Gepp, an employment litigator with 30 years of trial experience, joined as a partner in December from Hollowell, Foster & Gepp, where he was a name partner. Lauren H. Zeldin joined as an associate in December from Ashe Rafuse & Hill.

Two litigators have also joined the firm. Edward C. Henderson Jr. joined from a solo practice as counsel, and Natalie N. Mark joined from Clifford Chance in Washington as an associate.

The new additions give the firm 77 lawyers, according to its founder, Marc A. Taylor, almost five years after opening its doors.

Taylor said that is the size he’s envisioned for the firm. “It’s a size where we have enough breadth and depth of talent that we can represent Fortune 1000 companies but are still nimble and responsive. We all know each other at 75 attorneys, which would not be the case at 200 or 300,” he said.

The growth has continued despite the recession; Taylor said the firm had 51 lawyers at the beginning of last year.

With Pilger, Gepp and Zeldin, Taylor English has expanded its labor and employment practice to 18 attorneys, making up about a fourth of its total lawyer head count, after starting with one—Taylor—when the firm launched in April 2005.

Labor and employment law is a price-sensitive area, since disputes generally are not bet-the-company cases, said Ilene W. Berman, who heads Taylor English’s labor and employment practice. “Clients aren’t going to pay $600 an hour for defending an EEOC charge,” she said.

That makes labor and employment law a logical practice for Taylor English, which pitches itself as a firm offering seasoned partners with more flexible fee structures and lower rates than at larger firms. “That’s what we were built on in 2005,” Berman said.

Berman said clients range from start-ups and small employers to a couple of Fortune 100 companies. Mid-size companies with $10 million to $20 million in revenue are typical clients for the practice, she said.

Pilger is the firm’s first ERISA lawyer. “We’ve had many inquiries over the past three years for employee benefits counsel and have not had one,” said Berman. Before Miller & Martin, Pilger worked with Berman and Joseph M. English, one of the firm’s name partners, at Fisher & Phillips.

Berman said Gepp’s addition raises the profile of the firm’s labor and employment practice. “He’s one of the most well-known employment trial lawyers in town,” she said.

Taylor said the firm’s growth has been driven by litigation work, adding that increased demand for securities litigation defense prompted Mark’s recruitment. “We’ve accumulated a tremendous amount of litigation talent over the past year,” Taylor said.

Henderson will handle plaintiffs’ contingency litigation for businesses as well as defense work, said Taylor. “I think it’s a huge opportunity. Every Fortune 100 and 500 company has that category of cases,” he said.

Source (Subscription Required)

Employment Law Specialist Randy Gepp Joins Taylor English

Trial experience will help clients better defend themselves against employee lawsuits

Atlanta – Jan. 19, 2010 – Randy Gepp, a labor and employment attorney with 33 years of experience, has joined Taylor English Duma LLP.

Gepp will represent corporate and government clients—helping them defend against harassment, discrimination and wrongful termination charges. He also will focus on employment contracts and general labor relations.

In addition to three decades of successful litigation—Gepp has won 85 percent of his cases through motions—he also has substantial mediation and arbitration experience.

“Randy’s history of defending clients in jury trials will greatly benefit Taylor English clients,” said Marc Taylor, founding partner. “His trial familiarity makes him one of the most elite employment lawyers in the country and will help our clients better defend themselves against employee lawsuits.”

Gepp comes to Taylor English from Hollowell Foster & Gepp P.C.—where he practiced law since 1989. While there, Gepp was:

• Designated by Florida as one of the first employment law specialists in the state.
• Appointed by several Georgia governors to serve as a “special master.”
• Named a “Super Lawyer” every year since 2004 by Atlanta Magazine.
• Served as the past president of Atlanta Bar Association’s Employment Law section.
• Published an employment and labor newsletter.
• Mediated or arbitrated more than 100 employee discrimination cases.

In 2009, Gepp won five cases by summary judgment involving sexual harassment, national origin, race, retaliation and defamation. He also won a major case involving employment and constitutional issues in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 2008, Gepp successfully defended Grady Hospital in a discrimination jury trial. In 2007, he won a whistleblower case for DeKalb County after a three-week trial. Previously, he won the first jury trial case brought pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act filed in Fulton County.

Gepp says he’ll also help Taylor English clients better prevent disputes like these from ever going to court by consulting with them on everything from properly terminating under-performing employees to writing effective harassment reports.

“In this economic environment, employee lawsuits are on the rise,” Gepp said. “It’s more important than ever for corporations to protect themselves.”

Gepp said Taylor English’s performance-based business model was a big draw for his decision to come to the firm.

“Because of Taylor English’s entrepreneurial structure, we’re able to charge clients substantially less than larger firms,” Gepp said. “Some firms’ rates have become so high that many companies can’t afford the cost of defense. We’re able to provide more experienced attorneys at a lower rate. That’s attractive to clients in any business climate.”

About Taylor English Duma LLP

Taylor English is a full-service business law firm that provides high quality legal services for optimal value. Areas of practice include Employment & Labor, Business Transactions, Corporate & Taxation, Litigation and Dispute Resolution and Real Estate, Development & Construction.  Taylor English represents all types of clients—from Fortune 500 companies and start-ups to individuals. The firm has grown from four attorneys in 2005 to 75 attorneys today. For more information, visit www.taylorenglish.com.

Deferred Compensation Amnesty Window

The IRS just issued Notice 2010-6, which contains procedures for voluntarily correcting many types of failures to comply with the document requirements that apply to nonqualified deferred compensation plans under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. (For those of you with a lot of time on your hands, Notice 2010-6 follows this Alert.)

Many employment agreements contain deferred compensation arrangements that are not immediately obvious, such as expense reimbursement plans, stock options (or other stock rights) and severance. Similarly, many of the compliance failures would not be readily apparent since they are often counter-intuitive. Some of the most common “hidden” failures include:

• Non-compliant definition of “termination” or “separation from service”
• Non-compliant definition of “Good Cause”
• Non-compliant definition of “disability”
• Tying severance payments to employee’s execution of release
• Timing of annual bonus payments

Given this window of relief being offered by the IRS, now is a good time to review all such employment agreements, severance arrangements, bonus plans and equity compensation agreements, especially as they relate to key executives where the dollar amounts are significant. While the penalties involved are generally imposed upon the employee, there are some penalties that may also be imposed on the employer for failure to report and withhold on income in the proper tax year.