Joan is the managing partner of KBR’s national Employment and Workplace Management Team. Her practice focuses on the representation of management in employment litigation and complex commercial litigation. Her practice also includes insurance coverage litigation and professional liability defense. Practicing law since 1987, Joan has obtained extensive pre-trial, trial, and appellate experience in both individual and class actions in federal and state courts throughout the country. She has been admitted to practice on a pro hac vice basis in numerous states and often manages complex litigation on a national basis. Joan has tried many cases to verdict to date and has been involved in media-intensive class action litigation. She litigates and arbitrates before administrative agencies as well and is well-versed in ADR proceedings. Joan also has significant appellate experience, having briefed and argued numerous appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as well as New York State appellate courts.
In addition to defending clients in litigation, Joan regularly counsels clients on a broad array of employment and commercial law matters including employment agreements, independent contractor and wage and hour issues, and non-competition agreements.
Joan is a frequent lecturer for various organizations and clients including the American Bar Association, the Section of Labor & Employment Law; The Practicing Law Institute; The Professional Liability Underwriting Society and the Society for Human Resource Management. She has participated as a panelist for ABA-sponsored employment panels as well as panel presentations for human resource professionals on various topics including, “Mitigating Organizational Risk through Effective Employee Investigation Strategies” for the Society for Human Resource Management. Joan also participated in a panel discussion on litigating employment discrimination cases, presenting management’s perspectives on pre-trial and trial practices.