Erika L. Leonard

Erika Leonard is a Shareholder in the Atlanta and Austin office of Ogletree. Ms. Leonard has successfully represented clients in nearly a dozen wage and hour class and collective actions, as well as numerous single-plaintiff employment discrimination cases, appellate litigation, and traditional labor matters.

Ms. Leonard was lead associate on the trial team that obtained a rare defense jury verdict in an FLSA and state law hybrid wage and hour action, as well as a member of the team representing a major airline with regard to complex labor issues in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Ms. Leonard also advises clients on compliance with federal and state laws, prepares employee handbooks, conducts harassment, discrimination, and wage and hour investigations and training, and drafts employment agreements.

Ms. Leonard is an Associate Editor for Employment Discrimination Law (Fifth Edition), and the First Supplement of that treatise. She has previously served as Coordinating Editor for the Third Supplement to Employment Discrimination Law(Fourth Edition).

In addition, she has contributed to chapters in the Employment Law Deskbook for Human Resources Professionals, the California Business Law Deskbook, and Reductions in Force in Employment Law. Ms. Leonard serves on the board of an Atlanta-based children’s charity and is a member of the organizational team that founded the first free medical clinic in her community.

Education:

• J.D., cum laude, Washington and Lee University Law School, 2003
• B.A., Dartmouth College, 1999

Admitted to Practice:

• Georgia
• Georgia Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
• U.S District Court, Middle and Northern Districts of Georgia

Experience:

• Trial counsel, obtaining defense jury verdict for large telecommunications company in three-week FLSA/state law hybrid class/collective misclassification case of several hundred plaintiffs.
• Member of trial team attaining relief for airline with regard to complex labor issues in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
• Defended employers against off-the-clock collective action claims brought by call center workers in five separate cases
• Represented employers in approximately a dozen individual discrimination, retaliation or wage and hour lawsuits

Professional Activities:

• Georgia Bar Association
• American Bar Association (Labor and Employment section)
• Georgia Association for Women Lawyers
• Atlanta Bar Association