Electronic Discovery in Employment Law Cases

Employment cases
Listen to Douglas “Doug” Towns, a partner at the Am Law 100 law firm Jones Day talk about the different ways which electronic discovery can impact employment cases. Doug is a member of the Labor & Employment practice group of Jones Day as well as the e-Discovery group. He is based in Atlanta, Georgia. We will be discussing in the context of electronic discovery: (1) Harrasment and Discrimination cases, (2) Wage and Hour Cases, and (3) Missing Intellectual Property.

We are thrilled to be able to explore the interplay between electronic discovery and substantive areas of law like employment law. Doug Towns is a logical person to be speaking about this interplay because he works in both the electronic discovery world and employment and labor law field. In the employment law field, Doug represents employers in all areas of the labor and employment relationship. His experience includes representing employers before administrative agencies, state and federal courts, and appellate courts in matters arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Executive Order 11246, and a variety of state law wrongful discharge, employment contract, and tort claims. Doug’s extensive litigation experience ranges from defending employers in single plaintiff employment cases to large unemployment class and collective actions. In addition, Doug has considerable practical experience counseling and advising companies on employment issues involving structuring and implementing downsizing or other reductions in force, drafting and integrating corporate human resources policies, and structuring executive employment packages. His experience also includes representing management during union organizing efforts, labor disputes, and at the bargaining table.

Doug has authored several articles on employment law topics. For example, he has written extensively on employment class and collective actions, including “Section 216(b) Collective Actions: A Vehicle for Group-Initiated Claims” (Autumn 2001) and “Keeping the Monster in the Closet: Avoiding Employment Class Actions” (Autumn 2000), both of which appeared in the Employee Relations Law Journal. In addition, he has published other articles regarding managing complex employment litigation, avoiding age discrimination claims, accommodating mental disabilities under the ADA, employment law issues in corporate acquisitions, issues surrounding contingent workers, and challenges to the OFCCP’s compensation analysis.

Furthermore, Doug currently serves on the editorial board for GigaLaw.com, an Internet clearinghouse for legal articles and commentary regarding technology issues. As a member of the board, Doug has written articles that address cutting-edge employment law topics of interest to technology companies. Most recently, he wrote several chapters on employment law that were published in The GigaLaw Guide to Internet Law (Random House 2002).

Doug has spoken at more than 150 employment law programs on a variety of employment law and litigation topics, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, sexual harassment, employment class and collective actions, workplace violence, union avoidance techniques, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, electronic discovery, and wrongful discharge claims. He has also conducted numerous in-house management training programs and has appeared several times on CNN Headline News as a commentator on employment law issues.

Recorded 05/12/2009

Click on a tab to select how you'd like to leave your comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *