Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP is pleased to announce that Scott R. McLaughlin and Marlene C. Williams have joined the Litigation Practice Group as partners in the Houston office, expanding its service offerings in labor and employment law, including enforcement of non-compete agreements and trade secret disputes. Prior to joining Eversheds Sutherland, Mr. McLaughlin and Ms. Williams served as partners at Jackson Walker.

“Scott and Marlene are excellent additions to our litigation team in Houston,” said Eversheds Sutherland Co-CEO Mark D. Wasserman. “Their extensive experience representing multinational companies and their officers and directors, particularly in the energy and manufacturing industries, will be invaluable given our existing client base in those areas. To have lawyers of their caliber and experience join Eversheds Sutherland will significantly add to our national strength and be an advantage to our global clients.”

Widely recognized as an authority for bet-the-company labor and employment cases, Mr. McLaughlin is a “go-to” litigator for clients facing trade secret, fiduciary, discrimination, wage and hour, and “C-Suite” matters. He also has deep traditional labor experience, having handled litigation against unions, union elections supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, strikes and many labor arbitrations. Mr. McLaughlin regularly files lawsuits under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to recover information misappropriated by departing employees and has vast related experience in gathering, securing and preserving electronic evidence. He also has extensive experience in conducting internal sexual harassment, discrimination and fraud investigations, and provides day-to-day labor and employment advice and counsel to clients.

Ms. Williams is a seasoned litigator who guides her clients through complex labor and employment matters, defending Fortune 100 companies in class action disputes and collective action litigation. With clients spanning a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, media, retail, manufacturing and healthcare services, she has served as lead counsel in bench and jury trials, in federal and state appeals and in numerous arbitrations, including cases involving multiple parties and millions of dollars in claims. In addition to her varied commercial litigation experience, Ms. Williams assists clients in resolving a wide range of employment law issues, including wage and hour cases; discrimination, retaliation and harassment; and whistleblower claims. She also has extensive experience representing clients in non-compete and trade secret cases.

“Scott and Marlene’s arrival is an exciting opportunity to offer clients a broadened bench of top notch litigators who will advocate successfully for them both in Texas courts and throughout the country,” said David A. Baay, Partner in Charge of the Houston office. “Their exceptional labor and employment background, both at the trial and appellate levels, and a second-to-none understanding of the Texas legal landscape bolsters this dimension of our client services. We remain excited about the prospects for continued growth in Houston over the coming years, to the benefit of our clients.”

The additions of Mr. McLaughlin and Ms. Williams is the latest step in the expansion of Eversheds Sutherland’s Houston office. In September 2017, the office welcomed litigation Counsel Matthew Rawlinson from Hicks Thomas, LLP. Earlier this week, the Houston office added lateral attorney Joshua T. Christopher from Serpe, Jones, Andrews, Callender & Bell, PLLC.

With more than 100 litigators, Eversheds Sutherland’s Litigation Practice Group has tried and argued cases in the US Supreme Court, all 13 circuits of the US Court of Appeals, the Court of Federal Claims, the Tax Court and hundreds of federal district and state trial and appellate courts. Eversheds Sutherland’s litigation team represents regional, national and international clients from a broad range of industries, including energy, financial services, securities, insurance, construction, manufacturing, automotive, distribution, education, professional services, data privacy, electronics, technology and defense.

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