Dickinson Wright PLLC‘s practice handles a range of contentious employment mandates, including claims involving trade secrets, retaliation, harassment, discrimination, breach of contract, and wage and hour. Leadership of the practice is shared between Nashville-based Joshua Burgener and Lexington-based Brian Johnson. Burgener specializes in trade secret and non-compete cases. Names to note at the Detroit office include Timothy Howlett, who handles both advisory and contentious employment mandates; and the ’thorough’ Kathryn Wood, who handles the gamut of employment litigation work. Nashville-based Reid Estes and William Thacker, who is based in Ann Arbor, are additional key litigators.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

'Deep knowledge of labor law in different applications. Strong strategy development! Timely responses'.
'The communication and transparency demonstrated was wonderful. They were very upfront with setting expectations and providing their opinions on how to handle each hurdle that was thrown at them with our case, with the ultimate say being ours. Their opinions were thought thorough and meticulous, and each possible avenue was explained. We worked with Kathryn Wood and Scott Knapp for over a year, and they made themselves available at all times given the time constraints that sometimes arise.'
'I valued Kathryn Wood's honesty throughout the process in not only getting to know me, but also our business and industry. Katy was very thorough throughout the entire case and played a major role in our success of the litigation. I cannot say enough good things about Katy and our experience with her, she went above and beyond what we expected and would without a doubt be our first call if we were in need again.'

Key clients

ADEBCO, Inc., d/b/a Lane Hauling & Excavating
TI Group Automotive Systems, L.L.C.
Multisales Nashville, Inc.
Professional Services Laboratories, et al.

Work highlights

Represented ADEBCO, Inc. in a wage and hour collective action filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Represented TI Group Automotive Systems, L.L.C. in a wage and hour class action filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Represented Professional Laboratory Services and three individual defendants in a trade secret, non-compete, non-solicitation and breach of contract case.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Joshua Burgener, Brian Johnson

Other key lawyers

Kathryn Wood, Scott Knapp, Timothy Howlett, Reid Estes, William Thacker