Partner
and access,
Ellenor Stone practice focuses on corporate employment issues, including counseling public and private companies, senior executives, and management teams in buy- and sell-side transactions (more than 1,000 to date) ranging from approximately $25 million to $1.1 billion in industries such as software and technology, transportation and logistics, restaurants and hospitality, energy and natural resources, and healthcare. In this capacity, she works closely with each client to assess the various labor and employment concerns specific to the deal at hand; to negotiate tailored agreements, such as executive employment, separation and release, retention bonus, individual or investor sale of business restrictive covenants; and to develop and implement post-closing employee integration strategies. In addition to her corporate employment practice, Ellenor regularly represents and counsels both employers and senior executives in negotiating and drafting executive employment agreements, negotiating, drafting, and providing guidance on restrictive covenants, and advising on sensitive executive departures. Ellenor also maintains a robust HR counseling practice for her employer clients, providing day-to-day legal compliance and best practices advice on a variety of employment matters, including pre-offer and employee onboarding, employee classification and compensation, performance and discipline, internal investigations, terminations and reductions-in-force, employee data and privacy concerns, data theft and incident management response, and compliance with personnel policies as well as federal, state, and local employment laws. When the need for litigation arises, Ellenor draws on her experience representing clients throughout the nation in lawsuits and administrative proceedings under federal and state anti-discrimination, employment, and contract laws, and her involvement in complex litigation and employee investigations, including investigations by government agencies such as EEOC, SEC, and OSHA. In law school, Ellenor served as the Editor in Chief of the Georgia State University Law Review. After law school, Ellenor served a two-year term as a law clerk to the Honorable E. Clayton Scofield III, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Georgia. Prior to joining the firm, Ellenor practiced Labor and Employment law in the Trial and Global Disputes practice at King & Spalding.