Practice Description

Ms. Newkirk’s practice includes employment law litigation as well as employment law counseling and transactional work.  She regularly represents clients in lawsuits and administrative proceedings involving federal and state employment law statutes (such as Title VII, the ADEA, the ADA, Texas Labor Code, etc.) as well as litigation involving allegations of theft of trade secrets and violation of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements.  Ms. Newkirk also works with clients on complex employment law counseling issues such as managing discipline and terminations in high risk scenarios (which may involve employees who fall within multiple protected categories or are high-ranking executives), managing leaves of absences and navigating the issues raised by the FMLA, ADA and workers’ compensation statutes, and conducting sensitive or high level internal investigations.  She has significant experience in planning and executing reductions in force, which includes evaluating the risks raised by the proposed reductions and drafting employee communications and severance agreements.  Ms. Newkirk assists clients with drafting executive employment agreements as well as non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements.  She regularly advises clients on appropriate classification of employees as exempt or non-exempt under FLSA and of workers as employees or independent contractors under state and federal statutes; she handles administrative proceedings and litigation on these subjects as well.  Ms. Newkirk also teams with transactional lawyers to perform due diligence and review and provide advice on the employment law aspects of merger and asset purchase agreements.

Selected Presentations and Publications

• Presenter, “New Regulations, Recent Court Decision, and Vital Strategies for Managing Your Leave Law Challenges”
• Presenter, “Trends in Employment: Pop Culture Crosses Into the Workplace”
• Presenter, “Did You Know?  Recent  Trends in Employment Law”
• Presenter, “Reduction in Force Issues”
• Presenter, “Managing the Difficult Employee”
• Author, Controversy Surrounds EEOC’s Pregnancy Discrimination Guidance

Professional / Civic Activities

• Attorneys Serving the Community
• Co-Chair, Networking Committee 2013 – Present
• Texas Bar Foundation Fellow, 2011 – Present
• Dallas Bar Association
• Employment Law Section
• Chair, Employment Law Section, 2004, Vice-chair, 2003
• State Bar of Texas
• Employment Law Section

Achievements

• Best Lawyers in America – Employment Law Management and Labor Law, 2013-2015
• Best Lawyers in Dallas, D Magazine, 2012, 2015
• Texas Super Lawyer by Law & Politics Magazine and Texas Monthly in 2005 – 2015
• Texas Rising Star by Law & Politics Magazine and Texas Monthly in 2004 and 2005

Practice Description

Ms. Newkirk’s practice includes employment law litigation as well as employment law counseling and transactional work.  She regularly represents clients in lawsuits and administrative proceedings involving federal and state employment law statutes (such as Title VII, the ADEA, the ADA, Texas Labor Code, etc.) as well as litigation involving allegations of theft of trade secrets and violation of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements.  Ms. Newkirk also works with clients on complex employment law counseling issues such as managing discipline and terminations in high risk scenarios (which may involve employees who fall within multiple protected categories or are high-ranking executives), managing leaves of absences and navigating the issues raised by the FMLA, ADA and workers’ compensation statutes, and conducting sensitive or high level internal investigations.  She has significant experience in planning and executing reductions in force, which includes evaluating the risks raised by the proposed reductions and drafting employee communications and severance agreements.  Ms. Newkirk assists clients with drafting executive employment agreements as well as non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements.  She regularly advises clients on appropriate classification of employees as exempt or non-exempt under FLSA and of workers as employees or independent contractors under state and federal statutes; she handles administrative proceedings and litigation on these subjects as well.  Ms. Newkirk also teams with transactional lawyers to perform due diligence and review and provide advice on the employment law aspects of merger and asset purchase agreements.

Selected Presentations and Publications

• Presenter, “New Regulations, Recent Court Decision, and Vital Strategies for Managing Your Leave Law Challenges”
• Presenter, “Trends in Employment: Pop Culture Crosses Into the Workplace”
• Presenter, “Did You Know?  Recent  Trends in Employment Law”
• Presenter, “Reduction in Force Issues”
• Presenter, “Managing the Difficult Employee”
• Author, Controversy Surrounds EEOC’s Pregnancy Discrimination Guidance

Professional / Civic Activities

• Attorneys Serving the Community
• Co-Chair, Networking Committee 2013 – Present
• Texas Bar Foundation Fellow, 2011 – Present
• Dallas Bar Association
• Employment Law Section
• Chair, Employment Law Section, 2004, Vice-chair, 2003
• State Bar of Texas
• Employment Law Section

Achievements

• Best Lawyers in America – Employment Law Management and Labor Law, 2013-2015
• Best Lawyers in Dallas, D Magazine, 2012, 2015
• Texas Super Lawyer by Law & Politics Magazine and Texas Monthly in 2005 – 2015
• Texas Rising Star by Law & Politics Magazine and Texas Monthly in 2004 and 2005

Practice Description

Mr. Carlton’s business and litigation practice currently focuses on providing consultation and representation to insurance carriers and policy-holders in numerous areas of insurance coverage; and defending insurers, self-insureds and third-party administrators against claims of insurance bad faith. He also maintains a commercial litigation practice representing self-insured employers, construction companies, contractors, and other business entities.

Representative Experience

Provided insurance coverage opinions, counsel and representation in disputes and litigation involving commercial general liability, professional liability, commercial property, environmental, workers’ compensation/employers’ liability and commercial umbrella liability policies.

Represented national primary and excess insurance carriers and third-party administrators in high exposure coverage and extra-contractual “bad faith” litigation.

Represented business clients in disputes involving insurance brokers, agents, carriers, third-party administrators, claims representatives and self-insureds.

Defended national construction companies, contractors and professional employer organizations in suits involving alleged construction defects and catastrophic damages and injuries.

Selected Publications, Seminars and Cases

The Challenge of Integrated Data and Information Management when Splitting the Claim File, Insurance Bad Faith & Coverage Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, New York, New York (2014).

To Split or Not to Split: Avoiding Bad Faith when Defense and Coverage Collide, Annual Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Boca Raton, Florida (2014).

Preparing the Company Witness for a Bad Faith Deposition, Insurance and Bad Faith Coverage Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Atlanta, Georgia (2014).

Proven Methods to Avoid “Wasting” a Policy When There are Multiple Investigations and Competing Demands, American Conference Institute’s 25th National Advanced Forum on Bad Faith Litigation, San Francisco, CA (2013)

Claim Manuals and Training Materials: How to Address Them During Discovery and Trial, Insurance Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability, DRI, Boston, MA (2013)

Insurance Bad Faith – Getting Lean in Big Litigation: A New Way to Workout, Annual Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, San Antonio, TX (2013)

SIR’s, Settlement in Excess of Verdicts: When the Finger Pointing Starts, Fraud-Bad Faith-Coverage Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Orlando, FL (2013)

Avoiding Bad Faith When Litigating Questionable Coverage: Reservation of Rights, Declaratory Judgement Actions, Partially Covered Claims and Additional Insured Issues, American Conference Institute’s 23rd Annual National Forum on Bad Faith Litigation, Orlando, FL (Nov. 2012)

The Insurer’s Right to Intervene – And other Problems When the Insured Assigns its Bad Faith Claims, Insurance and Bad Faith Coverage Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Boston, MA (2012)

Duty of Good Faith: Insurance Claims Practices, Gallhager Basset, Sedgwick, Tri-Star, Travelers, Broadspire (2010)

Shifting the Risks: Selected Avenues of Risk Management in Texas Contractual Relationships, Texas Association of Defense Counsel (2010)

Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing: Insurance Claims Practices, Hartford Ins., ESIS (2009)

Fundamentals of Litigation Management, Counsel on Litigation Management (2009)

Case Assessment and Evaluation, Council on Litigation Management (2009)

Duty of Good Faith/Insurance Code Litigation: A Utilization Review Perspective, Hartford Ins. (2009)

Duty of Good Faith/Texas Insurance Code Litigation: Case Development, Hartford Ins. (2008)

Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing; A Claims Handling Perspective. Gallagher Basset (2007)

Defending Non-Subscriber Cases, Workers’ Comp Publication Seminar (2006)

Coverage Issues in Nursing Home Claims, DRI Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute (2006)

Twin City Fire Insurance Company v. Davis, 904 S.W.2d 663 (Tex. 1995)

Community Involvement, Affiliations and Memberships

Member, Defense Research Institute (Insurance Law Committee, 2003-present; SIU/Fraud Subcommittee Co-Chair, 2014; Board of Directors, 2014) (Commercial Litigation Committee, 2006-present)

Member, Texas Association of Defense Counsel (Board of Directors, 1999-2005;
Dallas Area Vice-President, 2002-2005)

Member, State Bar of Texas (Tort and Insurance Law Committee)

Member, Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (2010-2012)

Member, Counsel for Litigation Management (Bad Faith Committee, 2009-present; eDiscovery & ESI Committee, 2013-present)

Awards & Honors

AV ® PREEMINENT Martindale-Hubbell rating