Overview

David is senior counsel with the firm. He has for many years represented businesses in a full range of labor, employment and transportation matters. He has experience in both counseling and litigation, with particular emphasis on traditional labor matters, wage and hour matters, representation of employers in administrative proceedings and alternative dispute resolution proceedings, and representation of motor carriers and shippers of property in transportation matters. 

Representative Expereince

Representative Expereince

  • Counsel for employer in over 100 arbitrations, ADR proceedings, and contract negotiations
  • Defendants' counsel in class actions involving alleged minimum wage, FLSA overtime, and agricultural worker protection law violations
  • Representation of employers with respect to labor and personnel matters, including problem terminations, strategic policy implementations and changes, reductions-in-force and WARN-covered plant closings, discrimination charges, alleged OSHA, transportation safety, and alleged wage and hour violations,  and non-compete/non-disclosure agreements
  • Litigation, counseling, and representation of shippers and motor carriers of property in transportation matters and matters under the Railway Labor Act

News & Analysis

Client Presentations & Firm Publications

Speaking Engagements & Industry Publications

  • "Recording Conversations in the Workplace", Strafford webinar, July 20, 2022
  • "Making the Ivory Tower Old Wood: Implications of the NLRB’s Columbia University Decision for Colleges and Universities," October 2016
  • Atlantic Coast Labor-Management Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC, Labor Law Developments in 2015, Speaker, October 23, 2015
  • "The NLRB's New Quickie Election Rules: Preparing for Rapid Response", Strafford Publications, Inc., Co-Presenter, June 17, 2015
  • Lexis Practice Advisor Series: Labor-Management Relations, Author, Traditional Labor Law Practice Notes, January 2, 2015
  • "What's The National Labor Relations Board Been Doing For You Lately", State Bar of Texas, Corporate Counsel Section, Summer Newsletter 2013
  • "Using Criminal Background Checks in Employment Decisions," North Carolina Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section, Newsletter February 2013
  • "Supreme Court Strongly Backs Arbitration in Non-Compete Case," State Bar of Texas, Corporate Counsel Section, Winter II Newsletter 2013
  • "Labor and Employment Law Issues in the Obama Years," Speaker, Membership Meeting Nation's Capital Chapter, Institute of Management Accountants, Arlington, VA, 2009
  • "Labor Law, How to Recognize and Respond to Increased Union Organizing," Speaker, Annual Conference of the North Carolina Healthcare Human Resources Association, Greensboro, NC, 2000
  • "Keep on Truckin' without Overtime -- the Motor Carrier Exemption to the Overtime Requirement Covers Far More than Interstate Truck Drivers," Legal Times Special Report on Employment Law, December 1993
  • "Labor Law, 1991 Eleventh Circuit Survey," 43 Mercer Law Review 1215, 1992
  • "Labor and Employment Law Update," ABA Franchise Law Section MeetinG, Fall 1992
  • "Drug-Use Testing in the Workplace: Law and Science," Contributor, 1990
  • "The Conflict Surrounding the Producer-Distributor Relationship Requirement of the Publicity Proviso," 39 Wash. & Lee Law Review 1533, 1982
  • "Right to Jury Trial Under Copyright Act's Statutory Damage Provision," 39 Wash. & Lee Law Review 800, 1982

Blogs, Videos & Podcasts

Blog Posts

  • “Our goal is solving client problems in creative, cost-effective ways to produce positive outcomes.”
  • David Phippen, Litigator

Practice Emphasis

  • Labor law
  • Employment law
  • Litigation, including class action defense
  • Wage and hour compliance and litigation
  • Covenants not to compete
  • Transportation law, agreements and regulation

Education

Washington and Lee University School of Law

  • J.D., cum laude, 1983
  • Washington and Lee Law Review, 1981-1982
  • American Jurisprudence Award in Professional Responsibility, 1983

University of Virginia

  • B. A., Economics, with distinction, 1980

Bar & Court Admissions

  • District of Columbia, 1985
  • Virginia, 1983
  • Georgia, 1984
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
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