Expanded practice handles high-stakes disputes and 30+ transactions exceeding $1 billion in value
(TEXAS) – Approximately six months after expanding its Employment Practice, Vartabedian Katz Hester & Haynes LLP (VKHH) has grown the team while handling high-stakes disputes nationwide, employment matters in more than 30 transactions, and counseling employers on workplace and employee mobility issues across the country
The practice, led by Marc Katz and co-practice leaders Micala Bernardo and Todd Mobley, includes Senior Associates Maria Garrett, Breegan Mayrant, and Associate Alicia Pitts. The team recently expanded with the additions of Of Counsel Cristina Torres and Associate Kshitiz Gautam. Madison Carter will also join the Employment group after graduating from Baylor University School of Law and completing a federal clerkship. The group expects further growth in the near future.
The team represents clients in high-stakes employee mobility and trade secret matters across the technology, retail, finance, engineering, pharmaceutical, life sciences, healthcare, and energy industries. Its current matters span jurisdictions across the United States, including Florida, California, Mississippi, Alaska, Illinois, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Michigan, New York, and Ohio. The group’s work includes complex trade secret and restrictive covenant litigation, employee-raiding and unfair competition disputes, executive and employee mobility matters, and other sensitive workplace disputes.
On the transactional side, in just the first six (6) months since joining VKHH, the team has handled employment-related matters in more than 30 M&A/private equity transactions, with aggregate deal values exceeding $1 billion and involving thousands of employees throughout the United States. Working alongside corporate-focused boutique firms, the group advises on employment due diligence, transaction documents, restrictive covenants, executive compensation and employment arrangements, workforce transitions, and post-closing integration.
“We knew VKHH would give us the flexibility to build the kind of national and full-service employment practice we wanted, but the momentum in our first six months has exceeded my expectations,” said Marc. “We’ve continued to handle significant litigation and counseling matters across the country while building a transactional practice that is every bit as active and sophisticated as the work we were doing before the move. I’m proud of what this team has built and, more importantly, the results we’re achieving for our clients.”
The group also represents senior executives and officers in transactions and related change-in-control matters and regularly advises employers across industries on personnel matters and employee mobility issues nationwide.