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Paul R. Barsness

paul r. barsness

Partner

Atlanta

pbarsness@phrd.com

t: (404) 420-4318

f: (404) 522-8409

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  • Overview
  • Experience
  • Thought Leadership

Overview

Paul helps companies protect and safeguard two of their biggest assets: their workforce and intellectual property. A company's success and profitability is tied to its intellectual property, and Paul devotes a large portion of his practice to preventing and defending against the theft and misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets. He negotiates and litigates restrictive covenants, and handles cases involving trademark, copyright, and patent infringement.

A talented workforce is equally important. More and more companies rely on professionally-developed selection procedures to hire, promote, and retain the best talent. Paul represents employers of all sizes—as well as local governments, test developers, and workforce management companies—in counseling, litigation, and subpoena-enforcement actions involving the use of employment tests and personnel selection procedures. Paul defends employers facing allegations of discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, denial of benefits, wage and hour violations, and other claims under federal and state law. As an experienced class-action litigator, Paul also serves as litigation counsel for several financial institutions and other companies, defending against a myriad of state and federal consumer class actions.

Experience

  • Defend publicized U.S. Department of Justice suit against the Austin Fire Department's hiring process for fire cadets. Represent client with Lee Crawford on consent decree compliance issues.
  • National employment testing and validation counsel on all relevant matters for EEI and its participating members in this national trade association for investor-owned electric utilities.
  • Represented a large financial services institution in a series of lawsuits with a major competitor that involved allegations of corporate raiding, misappropriation of trade secrets, and alleged violation of restrictive covenants. The competitor of our client and a former employee initiated a lawsuit in state court, seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent our client from enforcing certain restrictive covenants. The firm removed the case to federal court and successfully defeated a motion to remand when the federal court found that the competitor had fraudulently joined an affiliate of our client in an effort to defeat diversity jurisdiction. The competitor then withdrew its motion for temporary restraining order and instead filed a motion for preliminary injunction. The firm then asserted several counterclaims against the competitor and former employee, defending the enforceability of the restrictive covenants and asserting trade secret claims, tort claims, and claims for breaches of the covenants. After some discovery, the competitor and former employee withdrew their motion for preliminary injunction, and the case resulted in a substantial settlement in favor of our client.
  • Represented a software company in litigation relating to the alleged breach of a non-disclosure agreement entered with a competitor in connection with the consideration of a potential joint venture. Our client denied misusing confidential information and denied any wrongdoing. We were able to resolve the case early in the litigation and obtain dismissal of the lawsuit and the competitor's motion for injunctive relief, without our client having to incur substantial legal fees.
  • Conduct overtime audit for large regional healthcare system to address and simplify overtime pay codes and ensure compliance with wage-and-hour regulations.
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  • Defend national clinical lab testing company against claims of race, age, color, sex, national origin, and disability discrimination and retaliation brought by senior level current employee. Following dismissal of some claims, we were able to resolve remaining claims through lower-cost settlement.
  • Following extensive document discovery and a full deposition of the plaintiff, we were able to secure an extremely favorable, less-than-nuisance-value settlement in response to age, gender, and multiple disability discrimination claims brought by a plaintiff who had been terminated for excessive unscheduled absences.
  • Defend suit by 19 plaintiffs claiming violation of constitutional and privacy rights. Address resolution compliance issues.
  • Represent services provider against allegations of employee misclassification and a demand for unpaid overtime wages by employee who had resigned.

Thought Leadership

  • Client Alert: A New Law and a Novel Stance From the New Business Court: Two Reasons to Update Your Georgia Employment and Contractor Agreements (May 10, 2022)
  • Client Alert: The Clock Is Now Ticking: Employers Have 30 Days to Comply With Most Aspects of OSHA’s Controversial COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (November 5, 2021)
  • Client Alert: Are You Ready – Less than 14 Days to Meet OSHA’s standards for Healthcare Providers (June 23, 2021)
  • Presenter, "Litigation and Labor & Employment in the Midst of a Pandemic," Association of Corporate Counsel-Small Law Department (November 12, 2020)
  • Presenter, "Litigation and Labor & Employment in the Midst of a Pandemic," Meritas Week (October 22, 2020)
  • Client Alert: New Temporary Rule for Emergency Paid Sick and Family Leave Limits Healthcare Exclusion and Clarifies Other Requirements (September 15, 2020) 
  • Client Alert: Federal Court Invalidates Certain Portions of FFCRA (August 3, 2020)
  • Client Alert: COVID-19 Liability Relief for Georgia Healthcare Providers and Businesses (July 22, 2020)
  • Client Alert: New Coronavirus Employer Obligations in Georgia (March 20, 2020)
  • Client Alert: Focused on Pay Equity? Remember, Performance Reviews are Tests (September 17, 2019)
  • Blog post: Wage and Hour Law In The Polar Vortex, Wage & Hour Defense Institute (January 29, 2018)
  • Associate Editor and/or Chapter Chair of leading employment law treatise, Lindemann, Grossman & Weirich Employment Discrimination Law
    • Chapter 3 – Disparate Impact
    • Chapter 4 – Application of Disparate Impact to Employment Decisions
    • Chapter 35 – Statistical and Other Expert Proof
  • Co-Presenter, "Legal Update," EEI (Edison Electric Institute) 2018 Conference on Testing, New Orleans, Louisiana (annual conference)
    • Webinar Co-Presenter, "Legal Implications of Testing on Job Applicants," Lorman Education Services (semi-annual webinar)
    • Keys to Success in Adverse Impact Trials (co-author), presented at the American Employment Law Council Twenty-Second Annual Conference (October 22-25, 2014)
    • Case Summaries for Recent Developments in Scored Test Case Law (co-author), presented at the Conference on Testing Leading through Changing Times (June 2-4, 2014)
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    • Case Summaries for Recent Developments in Scored Test Case Law (co-author), presented at the Meritas U.S. Litigation and Labor and Employment Practice Group Meeting (October 28-29, 2013)
    • Assessing the Legal Risks of Your Assessments, The 28th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Houston, TX (April 11-13, 2013)
    • Time to Harmonize Certification Analysis (co-author), presented at the National Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity Law (April 3-6, 2013)
    • Presenting Statistical Evidence in Disparate Treatment Cases (co-author) (2012)
    • The Future Of Employment Class Actions After Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes (co-author) (2011)
    • Edison Electric Institute 2011 Conference on Testing - Building Relationships:  The Big Picture in the Big Easy (May 2011) – Legal Updates
    • Case Summaries for Recent Developments in Scored Test Case Law, updated and presented at various conferences each year.

    Areas of focus

    • Financial Services
    • Franchise
    • Healthcare
    • Alternative Dispute Resolution
    • Appellate
    • Business Torts & Unfair Competition
    • Commercial Disputes
    • Consumer Class & Mass Action Disputes
    • Corporate Governance & Ownership Disputes
    • Corporate Investigations
    • Employment Litigation & Counseling
    • Executive Compensation & Separation Agreements
    • Fiduciary Litigation
    • Financial Services Litigation
    • Franchise Disputes
    • Intellectual Property & Restrictive Covenants

    Education

    • Georgia State University College of Law (J.D., summa cum laude, 2009)
    • University of Georgia (B.A., Economics; B.A., Political Science, 1998)

    Accolades

    • Scholarship and Leadership award from the American Bar Association and American Law Institute

    Professional affiliations

    • American Bar Association
    • State Bar of Georgia
    • Atlanta Bar Association
    • Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
    • Covenant House Georgia and Covenant House International
    • Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church

    Admitted to practice

    • Georgia

    news & insights

    view all news

    A New Law and a Novel Stance From the New Business Court: Two Reasons to Update Your Georgia Employment and Contractor Agreements


    May 10, 2022

    The Clock Is Now Ticking: Employers Have 30 Days to Comply With Most Aspects of OSHA’s Controversial COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard


    Nov 05, 2021

    Are You Ready – Less than 14 Days to Meet OSHA’s standards for Healthcare Providers


    Jun 23, 2021
    more

    Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs is pleased to announce that Paul R. Barsness has been admitted to the partnership as of January 1, 2021


    Jan 04, 2021

    Paul Barsness to present to the ACC Small Law Department Network


    Nov 06, 2020

    Paul Barsness to present during Meritas Week


    Oct 08, 2020
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