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Practice focuses on advising business management on employment issues, including employment discrimination, trade secrets and employee competition issues, union avoidance strategy and training, collective bargaining, grievance arbitration, and executive retention, dismissal and compensation. Litigates employment disputes in all courts and administrative agencies. Also experienced in arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution methods. Achieved the highest rating in Martindale-Hubbell.
Relevant Experience
- Extensive trial experience in state and federal courts throughout the East; experience has involved Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination In Employment Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Labor-Management Relations Act.
- Representative cases include:
- a successful suit against a labor union for unlawful picketing and conduct at a power plant in which the client received injunctive relief and a substantial monetary award;
- trial verdicts for the defense in discrimination suits under federal and state laws in the telecommunications, retail, publishing, electric utility, banking, and hotel industries;
- the defense of the employer in a Maryland OSHA case involving a bridge collapse in which a proposed fine of over $800,000 was reduced to less than $800 at conclusion of litigation;
- obtaining a TRO in a suit to enforce a non-compete agreement on behalf of a software company;
- defeating a request for a TRO in a trade secret and breach of loyalty case against three employees in the political consulting industry; and
- obtaining a substantial arbitration award of back bonus compensation and attorneys fees on behalf of a former executive of a video production company.
- Counsels employers concerning the protection of trade secrets and intellectual property as well as methods for preventing unfair competition from employees and former employees; drafts and litigates the enforceability of employee non-competition agreements.
- Assists employers and executives in negotiating employment contracts, non-competition agreements, separation and severance agreements.
- Represents employers and executives in bonus, severance and other compensation disputes.
- Represents employers in all aspects of union avoidance, including pre-campaign counseling, unit hearings, the direction of employer campaigns and the defense of union objections and unfair labor practice charges.
- Has negotiated numerous collective bargaining agreements in the manufacturing, steel, trucking, hotel and publishing industries.
Legal Employment
- U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Washington, D.C. 1974 -- 1975
- Hunton & Williams LLP, Associate, Richmond, Virginia and Washington, D.C. 1975 -- 1982
- Hunton & Williams LLP, Partner, Washington, D.C. 1982 -- 2008
- A. Neal Barkus, PLLC, Managing Attorney, Martinsburg, West Virginia 2008 -- present
Membership
- Member, Virginia Bar
- Member, West Virginia Bar
- Member, District of Columbia Bar
- Member, American Bar Association, Sections on Litigation and Labor & Employment Law
- Member, Society For Human Resource Management
- Fellow, College of Labor & Employment Lawyers
Community Service
- President, Friends Of Music, Inc., Shepherdstown, W.Va., 2010--present
- Hunton & Williams Pro Bono Publico Award 1998
- E. Randolph Williams Award 1996-2004
- Past Chair, United Way of District of Columbia
- Past Chief Volunteer Officer, United Way National Capital Area
Education
- J.D., Washington and Lee University School of Law, cum laude, 1974 (Order of the Coif)
- B.A., University of Virginia, with distinction, 1969
- Harvard Program on Negotiation, December 2004
