Ariel Kelly Email and Phone Number

A diligent workplace investigator. A skilled employment litigator. A trusted counselor. My practice provides full-service support for employers of all sizes, from start-ups to global conglomerates, in almost every aspect of the employment relationship. As a diligent workplace investigator, I am adept in fully immersing myself in a client’s business function and building rapport with clients’ employees. I have relied on these skills to diligently and efficiently conduct investigations regarding claims of employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and company policy violations for healthcare organizations, global technology companies, construction companies, transportation companies, higher-education organizations, and other industries. As a skilled employment litigator, I defend employers against claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and pay equity violations; FLSA, ADAAA, ADEA, FMLA, and Title VII violations; and misappropriation of trade secrets. I have gained both federal and state court trial experience, including the successful enforcement of a non-solicitation agreement in a bench trial against my client’s direct competitor.As a trusted counselor, I advise, train, and counsel executive-level leadership, HR professionals, and small business owners regarding all employee life-cycle events, including recruitment, hiring, discipline, termination, and leaves of absence. I also draft, review, and revise employee handbooks, workplace policies, offer letters, and employment-related agreements, including restrictive covenants, severance agreements, and various employment contracts. Further, when businesses consider expanding their market footprint, I provide labor and employment advice during the due diligence process for corporate mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions.

In this role, I defended employers in labor and employment matters, building upon a unique combination of experience in plaintiff-side and management-side defense litigation. I leveraged my previous experience as an attorney for both plaintiffs and employers to provide thoughtful and effective solutions to address clients’ needs. On the management side, I have counseled and defended clients on a wide variety of labor and employment matters, including claims of: wage-and-hour violations, employment discrimination, retaliation, harassment, hostile work environment, wrongful termination and contractual disputes. I litigated these claims on behalf of employers in single and multi-plaintiff cases, as well as class and collective actions, on the state and federal level. In addition to litigating claims in court, I prepared and defended clients facing charges and investigations by state and federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. I also negotiated, drafted, reviewed and enforced employment-related contracts and policies, including employee handbooks, non-compete/non-solicitation agreements and confidentiality agreements. Some of my notable successes include:-Enforcing a non-compete and confidentiality agreement against a client’s direct competitor;-Obtaining multiple dismissals of administrative charges of alleged discrimination and labor law violations; and-Obtaining plaintiff’s voluntary non-suit of a lawsuit after the conclusion of the plaintiff’s deposition.Outside of court, I assist employers in their training, compliance and prevention efforts.

In this role, I represented and counseled clients through all phases of civil litigation. As an associate in the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Labor & Employment group, my practice focused on litigating and counseling employers on a broad array of employment and labor matters, including: employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour, personal injury, workers’ compensation and contract disputes. I assisted employers in negotiating, drafting, reviewing and enforcing employment-related contracts and policies, including employee handbooks, non-compete/non-solicitation agreements and confidentiality agreements. Further, I have been involved in litigation on behalf of employers in single and multi-plaintiff cases, as well as class and collective actions, on the state and federal level.Practice Areas: Commercial & Business LitigationLabor & Employment LitigationClass ActionMinority Business Enterprises

-Researched implications of newly promulgated agency rules on existing company policies-Drafted legal memoranda on health care policy to assist legal department in revising company protocols

-Created and Designed a Microsoft SharePoint website as a project document repository-Tracked deliverables by compiling weekly status reports of Project Genesis, a 3 yr. $22M data systems conversion project -Instructed ServiceMaster associates on navigating the SharePoint site and managing its contents

-Assisted with document review and discovery -Assisted with preparation of responses to agency charges-Monitored registration and site activity for trademark infringing websites-Extracted facts from property leases for market research purposes