Kathryn (McConnell) Stokes

Kathryn (McConnell) Stokes  has earned a reputation for providing best-in-class, efficient, and comprehensive service for her clients. Katy’s litigation and counseling experience spans a wide array of industries, including retail, food and beverage, construction, staffing, telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, advertising, automotive, payment solutions, and financing. She is a trusted advisor on all aspects of the employment relationship, a tenacious litigator, and a skilled negotiator. Katy is known for providing practical and business-forward advice both in compliance matters and on litigation matters to her clients. Katy works with her clients to find the best legal solution for their business needs. Katy’s clients comprise of global and multijurisdictional domestic companies and she works daily with such clients  to provide seamless solutions to complex legal issues regardless of where her client is located. Katy also has a passion for advising and defending emerging growth companies, small businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs. Katy also has extensive experience working with franchisors and franchisees throughout the U.S.

Katy counsels, trains, and defends multinational and domestic companies on employment law matters, including:

• Restrictive covenant and other employment-related agreements
• Discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the workplace
• Wrongful termination
• Wage and hour compliance and disputes
• Minimizing wage and hour exposure
• Commission and other incentive plans

Katy focuses on representing employers in complex employment litigation matters, including single and multiplaintiff actions and class and collective actions in the wage and hour, unfair competition, and employment discrimination/retaliation areas. She regularly defends employers in state and federal courts across the U.S. in lawsuits alleging discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful discharge, emotional distress, FLSA and FMLA violations, breach of restrictive covenants, and other employment-related claims. Katy has extensive experience defending and mediating charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and equivalent state and local administrative agencies.

Katy also serves as the Georgia coordinator and liaison for Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI) focusing on Georgia’s state legislative and regulatory developments in employment and labor law. She assists the employer community in understanding the impact of Georgia legislation before it becomes law. Katy also serves on the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Advisory Council.

Earlier in her career, Katy worked in the London office of an international law firm and was admitted as a Solicitor in England and Wales.