Alan King

Alan S. King represents clients in the area of employment litigation and counseling. He has successfully litigated cases and advised clients on a broad range of employment matters, including employment discrimination and workplace harassment issues, restrictive covenants, confidentiality agreements, wage and hour, wrongful discharge, defamation and other state and federal statutory and common law employment law issues. Alan is vice chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment Group.

Alan has extensive experience on behalf of both private and public employers in virtually all types of employment-related litigation. He litigates individual and class action cases in federal and state courts around the country, and has considerable experience representing employers before various federal, state and local administrative agencies.

Alan also regularly advises clients on a wide range of employment law issues, including matters of employee discipline and termination, reductions in force, wage and hour, non-competition, workplace investigations and harassment issues.

Alan has also participated as an advocate in more than one hundred private mediations, EEOC mediations and court-sponsored settlement conferences across many industries, including retail, airlines, healthcare, telecommunications, education, financial services, municipalities and minority-owned businesses.

Through this experience, Alan has developed a unique expertise and professional passion for helping litigants resolve employment-related disputes. Alan is a certified mediator who offers his vast employment litigation experience to help parties reach a voluntary, negotiated resolution of their employment-related disputes.

Experience :

Alan is an experienced trial lawyer who has represented clients in a broad range of employment matters. His successes include:

• Lead counsel on behalf of Fortune 500 national retailer in two cases brought by four former employees alleging national origin discrimination, hostile work environment harassment, retaliation and constructive discharge. Obtained summary judgment on all claims in both cases. (N.D. Ill. March 2017).
• Lead counsel on behalf of major international airline in case brought by former long-term employee alleging race discrimination and retaliation in his discharge. Obtained summary judgment on both claims. (N.D. Ill. January 2017).
• Sheedy v. Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, 2014 WL 240331 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 22, 2014). Lead counsel on behalf of hospital in age discrimination action brought by former employee. On January 22, 2014, U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall granted the hospital’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the case with prejudice.
• Lead counsel on behalf of a Fortune 500 national retailer in a nationwide class action alleging pay discrimination based on race, national origin and ethnicity. Obtained dismissal of all class claims alleging both disparate treatment and disparate impact on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, with no amended complaint being filed. (N.D. Ill. 2011).
• EEOC v. Scrub, Inc., No. 09 C 4228 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 9, 2010). Served as court-appointed Consent Decree Monitor in connection with a four-year Consent Decree resolving race and national origin hiring discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC.

With 30 years of experience litigating all manner of employment-related disputes in federal and state courts and in arbitration, Alan has developed a unique expertise and professional passion for helping litigants resolve their employment-related disputes through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods.

Alan is a certified mediator who uses his vast experience and expertise in employment litigation to assist parties as a “neutral” in reaching a voluntary, negotiated resolution of their employment-related matters.

• Participated as an advocate in more than one hundred private mediations, EEOC mediations and court-sponsored settlement conferences, with a unique expertise and success rate in resolving employment-related disputes.
• Consent Decree Monitor, EEOC v. Scrub, Inc., No. 09 C 4228 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 9, 2010). Selected jointly by the EEOC and employer, and appointed by federal district court, to serve as court-appointed neutral monitor in connection with four-year Consent Decree resolving a race and national origin hiring discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC.
• Certified Mediator, Northwestern University School of Professional Studies’ Mediation Skills Training Course.
• Board of Directors, Resolution Systems Institute, a leading designer and evaluator of court-based ADR programs.

Education :

• University of Illinois, J.D., 1988
• Augustana College, B.A., 1985

Bar Admissions : Illinois

Court Admissions :

• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit