Employer-side counsel on discipline and separation, workforce compliance, incentive design, and the labor-and-employment exposure that surfaces in every transaction, so that the personnel decision, and the deal behind it, hold up later.
A wrongful-termination claim turns on the personnel file as it stood on the day of the decision, and little added to it afterwards helps. So we read the file before the decision is announced, the way a plaintiff's lawyer will read it later: the handbook, the reviews and the protected-activity timeline. Where it has a gap, the gap is closed or the timing changes, and either happens before anyone is told.
Firm facts · ReachA corporate and private-capital boutique with international reach: a principal office in Chicago, a second office in Oakbrook Terrace, offices in London and Dubai through partner firms, meeting locations by appointment in seven further US cities, and a partner network across ~51 jurisdictions on five continents. Founded 2013.
We act for the employer only. A reduction in force gets the same discipline, with selection criteria tested for adverse impact and the WARN and state mini-WARN notice windows counted before the announcement. Executive agreements are drafted to be enforced rather than admired: change-in-control and good-reason triggers are read before they are tripped, and restrictive covenants are scoped to what a court in that state will actually enforce.
In a transaction the same questions return as price. Misclassification, wage-and-hour history and successor liability surface in diligence, and a buyer's data room asks for the same file an EEOC charge would. Build the file once, early, and both are answered.
Legally defensible termination and layoff procedure, with the disciplinary frameworks, separation agreements, and documentation that foreclose a wrongful-discharge claim before it forms.
Enter the practice: Discipline & Separation →Employment and hiring policy that complies with federal and state standards on wages, leave, accommodation, and conduct, written so that practice and policy agree.
Enter the practice: Workforce Compliance & Policy →Reorganizations, reductions in force, and WARN Act planning, with the selection criteria, notice obligations, and sequencing that keep a restructuring from being reopened in litigation.
Enter the practice: Restructuring & Reductions in Force →Executive agreements, equity and incentive design, restrictive covenants, and severance that recruit and retain leadership and stay enforceable when they matter.
Enter the practice: Executive Compensation & Incentives →Employment diligence on the buy-side and the sell-side, covering successor-liability exposure, classification and wage-and-hour review, change-in-control and retention terms, and the workforce integration that follows close.
Enter the practice: Transactional Labor & Employment →Employment disputes taken through arbitration or mediation, and through litigation when required, with the early posture and the paper trail that tend to settle a matter on the employer's terms.
Enter the practice: Disputes & Alternative Resolution →Retirement and health plan design, fiduciary governance, and ERISA compliance, so the benefits program holds up under audit and through a transaction.
Enter the practice: Employee Benefits & ERISA →Privileged, employer-side fact-finding into harassment, misconduct, and complaints, conducted to produce a record that withstands later scrutiny.
Enter the practice: Workplace Investigations →The NLRA, FLSA, OSHA, ADA, Title VII, FMLA, ADEA, and WARN Act set a federal baseline, and Illinois adds the Workplace Transparency Act and the Equal Pay Act. Policy has to meet both, and has to be maintained as both change.
Termination and layoff decisions draw the most scrutiny. Proper procedure, contemporaneous documentation, and a well-drafted separation agreement are what keep a defensible decision defensible.
Employment and executive agreements span compensation, equity, and restrictive covenants, each governed by its own federal and state rules. Precision at drafting is what makes a term hold when it is tested.
In M&A, employment exposure becomes price. Misclassification, wage-and-hour history, and successor liability surface in diligence; addressing them early keeps them out of the purchase agreement and the post-closing dispute.
Where a dispute does arise, arbitration and mediation are often faster and quieter than a trial, provided the agreements and policies were drafted to make that route available.
A compliant handbook is worth little if day-to-day practice diverges from it. We align the written program with how the business actually operates, because the gap between the two is where liability lives.
Before a separation, a reduction in force, or an incentive plan goes live, we put it through adversarial review. We read the decision the way opposing counsel or a regulator would, so that we find the weakness before they do. The employer then moves with the record already built.
Employment diligence inside the broader transaction, covering successor liability, change-in-control terms, and workforce integration.
Corporate & M&A →Arbitration, mediation, and litigation across employment and commercial disputes, for when a workforce matter becomes contested.
Litigation & Disputes →The cross-border side of the workforce, from visas and transfers to the sponsorship obligations that travel with international hiring.
Business Immigration →The tax architecture behind compensation, including equity, deferred, and incentive plans, and the structures that make a package efficient.
Tax →Hart David Carson LLP acts for the employer. Our employment and executive compensation practice covers discipline and separation, workforce compliance, incentive design, and the labor-and-employment exposure that surfaces in a transaction, all from the employer's side, so that the personnel decision, and the deal behind it, hold up when they are later tested.
Federal law sets the floor through the NLRA, FLSA, OSHA, the ADA, Title VII, the FMLA, the ADEA, and the WARN Act, and the states add layers of their own. In Illinois those include the Workplace Transparency Act and the Equal Pay Act. Policy has to satisfy both levels and be maintained as both change.
Separation is where most claims start, so the work is to get the structure right before the decision is made. Proper procedure, contemporaneous documentation, and a well-drafted separation agreement are what let a sound decision be defended if it is later challenged.
The WARN Act can require advance notice before certain layoffs and plant closings. We plan selection criteria, notice obligations, and the sequencing of a restructuring so it can proceed without being re-opened in litigation.
In a deal, employment exposure becomes price. Misclassification, wage-and-hour history, and successor liability all surface in diligence, and dealing with them early keeps them out of the purchase agreement and out of the post-closing dispute, on the buy-side and the sell-side alike.
Executive agreements span compensation, equity and incentive design, restrictive covenants, and severance, each governed by its own federal and state rules. We structure the package to recruit and retain leadership while keeping the plan enforceable when it is tested.
Before any decision is announced, we read the file the way a plaintiff's lawyer will: the handbook, the reviews, comparator treatment, and the protected-activity timeline. Gaps get closed or the decision gets re-sequenced, and the paper is fixed before the person is told.
A single executive or a reduction in force gets the same discipline. Selection criteria are written down and tested for adverse impact, WARN and state mini-WARN notice windows are counted, and the change-in-control and good-reason triggers in the executive's agreement are read before they are tripped.
Separation terms are priced against actual exposure: severance for a release that holds, OWBPA consideration and revocation periods run correctly for 40-plus employees, and covenants scoped to what a court in that state will actually enforce.
An EEOC or state-agency charge, a wage-and-hour audit, or a buyer's diligence room asks for the same file. Because the record was built in stage one, the position statement writes itself and the deal does not stall on the workforce tab.
A termination is litigated on the day it happens. The trial just comes later.
Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice
One partner is accountable for the whole matter, and you have that partner's direct line. Chicago, London, and Dubai work to the same standard.