Chambers USA selected the firm as a “Recognised Practitioner” in Labor and Employment law in Virginia in 2019. Mike Lorenger was ranked as Band 2 for Labor and Employment in Virginia, and Susan Carnell was ranked as Band 3.
The firm obtained a favorable ruling for its client, a legal technology provider, in its lawsuit against a former employee and his new employer for breach of a restrictive covenant and tortious interference with customer relationships. In May 2019, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted in part our client’s motion for partial summary judgment, holding that the former employee breached his contract with respect to a particular customer, and denied in whole both defendants’ summary judgment motions, sending the rest of the case to trial. Legal Tech. Grp., Inc. v. Mukerji, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97011 (D.D.C. May 13, 2019)
Susan Carnell was a panelist for the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association/Federal Bar Association presentation on “Motions Practice in Employment Cases: Summary Judgment,” held in Washington, DC in October 2018.
All three attorneys of Lorenger & Carnell were selected as “Super Lawyers” in Labor and Employment in both Virginia and Washington, DC for 2019. This marks the eighth consecutive year that both Mike Lorenger and Susan Carnell have been selected, and the first year for Christine Burke (who had previously been ranked for several years as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers).
The firm secured victory for its client, a federal government contractor, in a lawsuit filed by a former employee in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Court, in an opinion by the Honorable T.S. Ellis, III, granted the employer’s motion for summary judgment on all of plaintiff’s claims (for disability discrimination and retaliation under the ADA, and retaliation under the FMLA), and entered judgment in the employer’s favor. Blanch v. Hexagon US Federal, Inc., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177281 (E.D. Va. 2018).
The firm secured final victory for its client, a regional power company, in a discrimination lawsuit that proceeded all the way to the United States Supreme Court. After obtaining summary judgment for the employer at the District Court of Maryland, the firm continued to defend the matter before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the lower court’s decision. The plaintiff filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court, which denied cert, closing the case for good. Thomas v. Delmarva Power & Light Co., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118505 (D. Md. 2017), aff’d 715 F. App’x 301 (4th Cir. 2018), cert. denied, 202 L. Ed. 2d 131 (2018).
Susan Carnell served as Moderator and Chair of the Program Planning Committee for the 27th Annual Employment Law Update Seminar, sponsored by Virginia CLE and held in two locations in May 2018. This was the second year in a row Susan served in this role, having presented on employment law topics in several previous years.