Brian J. Kelly

Brian is the Chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group and is named to the prestigious Chambers USA: America’s Guide to Leading Lawyers for Business in the area of Employment and Labor.

Brian focuses his practice on the representation of management in all phases of labor relations and employment litigation. Brian regularly represents employers in litigation before federal and state courts, administrative agencies and arbitrators involving employment discrimination and harassment, wrongful discharge, theft of trade secrets, breaches of non-compete agreements and other employment contract topics. Brian also has extensive experience counseling employers on employment topics ranging from FMLA and ADA compliance to reduction in workforce planning and implementation. In the labor relations area, Brian has significant experience in collective bargaining negotiation, union avoidance techniques and strike disputes. Brian has also developed and implemented personnel policies and in-house training programs on a variety of labor and employment law topics.

In an environment of increasingly complex labor and employment laws, our lawyers provide effective human resources strategies, counseling, and training to help our clients avoid costly litigation, lengthy government investigations, and other outside party intervention. We have assisted clients in the implementation of arbitration agreements and policies that enable them to avoid costly and high-risk jury trials. When litigation cannot be avoided, our labor and employment lawyers consistently provide our clients with comprehensive services that lead to cost-effective, favorable results. Where reasonable settlements have not been possible, we have often secured summary judgments for our clients and have thereby avoided trials. We have successfully tried cases in courts and agencies around the country.

Frantz Ward’s labor and employment lawyers represent national, regional, and local employers in the full spectrum of traditional and emerging labor law issues. Members of the group counsel our non-union clients on how to retain their status, and routinely represent employers in union organizing campaigns and unfair labor practice proceedings before the NLRB. We also negotiate collective bargaining agreements and are well-versed in the issues that arise in the bargaining process. Members of the group actively work with our clients in planning for and dealing with work stoppages on a local and national level. This representation includes training management; obtaining injunctive relief against mass picketing violence or illegal or wildcat strikes; preventing disruption of our clients’ business relationships through secondary boycott charges and related damage suits; counseling regarding replacement of strikers; and handling post-strike litigation.