Lovita Tandy
is a partner in the Business Litigation Practice Group and she focuses on labor and employment law and complex commercial disputes. She was a partner until 2010 and then taught Contracts, Remedies, Transactional Drafting and Negotiations at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. She rejoined the firm in May 2013.
She has been named a “Georgia Rising Star” in Civil Litigation and Labor & Employment by Atlanta Magazine and Law & Politics from 2005 to 2010 and was one of ten lawyers profiled in the magazine’s 2006 edition. She was named one of Atlanta’s “Up and Comers” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2004 and has appeared in Who’s Who in Black Atlanta.
Ms. Tandy’s fifteen years of employment and diversity related experience includes: conducting high-level internal investigations, providing employment related training to corporations and high-level executives, strategic diversity counseling, ensuring wage-and-hour compliance, and structuring reductions-in-force. She has defended dozens of employment discrimination and/or retaliation claims involving federal and state anti-discrimination laws, whistleblower laws and the FLSA. She regularly represented unionized employers in collective bargaining negotiations, board proceedings and arbitrations. She has also prosecuted and defended multiple trade-secret and restrictive covenant matters.
Sample significant matters in which she has been involved include:
Lead counsel for a $750 million financial services provider in a trade secret and breach of contract action against former employees alleged to have misappropriated predictive modeling software on which the Company had spent millions of dollars over five years to develop and refine.
Represented The Coca-Cola Company in litigation filed in both federal and state court by more than 50 independent bottlers challenging the right of the Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises to warehouse deliver certain products to major retailers, including Wal-Mart.
Lead defense counsel in multiple public accommodation lawsuits brought by a national civil rights advocacy group against the largest franchisee of a major food service company with approximately 150 facilities. The matter was settled with minimal publicity based on defense counsel’s assistance in structuring training programs, oversight measures, and other systemic relief and discrimination prevention measures.
Conducted multiple internal investigations for an international building materials manufacturing company concerning allegations of widespread racial discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and improper management at one of its facilities and in upper management.
Represented the Coca-Cola Company before the Department of Labor and in state and federal courts in one of the first major Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Cases wherein Plaintiff sought $44 million in damages. His state law claims were dismissed and the remaining litigation was resolved on terms favorable to the client.
Avoided threatened FLSA collective action, litigation expenses and penalties by assisting a major financial services provider in a voluntary overtime U.S. Department of Labor-supervised audit and back-pay agreement for approximately 1,500 employees in five locations.
Representative Recent Publications and Speaking Engagements
Panelist: “Diversity in the Workplace: Understanding Micro-Insults and the Effects They Have on Workplace Satisfaction,” ABA Mid-Year Meeting (February 2011)
Presenter: “The Americans with Disabilities Act: New Risks for Employers and a Gold Mine for Employees,” The Seminar Group’s 6th Annual Labor and Employment Conference (October 2009)
Panelist: “Diversity in a Downturn,” State Bar of Georgia Fall Diversity Continuing Legal Education Program (October 2009)
Panelist: “It’s About Time II: Examining Flexible Work Arrangements from the Attorney’s and the Firm’s Perspectives -- A Study of Part-time Policies in Georgia Law Firms,” Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, Mar. 20, 2008.
Featured Speaker: Overhauling the Assignment Process To Ensure an Equitable Division of Work, American Conference Institute Conference on Retaining and Promoting Female Attorneys, May 23, 2007
Lane Dennard, Jr. and Lovita T Tandy, UNIONS' RIGHT TO COMPANY INFORMATION (Third Edition) (2001)
Memberships
State Bar of Georgia
Labor and Employment Sections and the Litigation Sections of the American, Georgia and Atlanta Bar Associations
Leading Women of Color Attorneys in Law and Business, Inc. -- Vice President
Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals -- Vice President (2008-2009)
Sheltering Arms Early Education and Child Care Centers -- Board Member (2005-2008)
A.P. Randolph Elementary Cub Scout Pack 2020 - Pack Committee Chair (2010-2011)
Awards & Recognition
Recognized by Atlanta Magazine and Law & Politics as a “Georgia Rising Star” in both Civil Litigation and Labor & Employment (2005, 2006 & 2007) with feature article in 2006
Who’s Who in Black Atlanta (2003 - to present)
Named one of Atlanta’s “Up and Comers” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle (2004)
“8 Women in the Law: Star Attorneys at the Top of Their Game”, Atlanta Tribune Magazine (2004)
