© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(February 17) — April Terry recently joined Gray Reed & McGraw as a member in its Dallas office. She focuses her practice on litigation and employment matters.
Terry, who previously practiced at Locke Lord and Higier Allen & Lautin, said she understands the dynamics of both a large national firm and a small local firm.
“Gray Reed, a mid-sized regional firm with a wide variety of practice areas, helps me provide my clients with the benefits of both,” she said. “I am very impressed with the people here. They are friendly, down-to-earth, talented and driven to provide excellent, value-added service for their clients.”
The Texas Tech University School of Law graduate represented a national retailer in one of the first cases in Texas to uphold a mandatory arbitration plan without an employee’s signature.
“The plaintiff in that case was a top-level executive who was on film promoting the plan to her subordinates, but yet when she had her own employment dispute, she complained that she did not agree to the plan and did not find it fair,” she explained. “The plan was enforced after we went to the Texas Supreme Court.”
In another significant case, Terry represented a local city in post-judgment motions and an appeal of a whistle blower case where the jury awarded the plaintiffs, two police officers, actual and punitive damages against her client and two other defendants – the police chief and the city manager – who allegedly retaliated against the police officers for exercising their First Amendment rights and whistle blowing.
At the Fifth Circuit, Terry argued the two police officers failed to exhaust their administrative remedies. The appeals court agreed.
“As a result, I saved the local taxpayers from paying a $27 million verdict,” she said.
The new Gray Reed member predicts we will continue to see a significant amount of race, age and wage and hour claims in 2014 because plaintiff employment lawyers find them to be successful.
“In particular, we will continue to see a number of FLSA cases, as the claims are fairly easy to assert and the onus is on the employer to disprove and attorney’s fees are awarded on a premium lodestar basis,” she said.
Terry added that she expects employers will update their technology policies for employees in connection with the many issues that arise when employees use their personal telephones for business use including keeping information confidential and protected as trade secrets.
Though she loves her commercial litigation practice, Terry wants to grow her employment practice at her new firm.
“Employment law is never dull,” she said. “Discrimination and harassment claims typically involve complex relationships and a variety of emotions between people in the workplace and, therefore, have a very human component that is often lacking in other types of litigation.”
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