Chapter 01 Vol. 15, Autumn 2026
Practice
We do employment law and nothing else. Six areas cover nearly everything a company of 40 to 2,000 people will meet, from the first offer letter to the last day of a restructuring.
Hiring, offers and executive contracts
The documents every hire signs, and the few that get negotiated.
Most companies we meet are running on offer letters copied from a previous employer. We replace them with a small set of templates that fit your states and your equity plan, then handle the executive agreements that need a lawyer on each side.
Typical work
- Offer letter and confidentiality templates for every state you hire in
- Executive employment and severance agreements
- Restrictive covenants that a court in your state will enforce
- Founder and early-employee equity terms, with your corporate counsel
Terms
Template sets from $3,900 fixed
Handbooks and multi-state compliance
One handbook, short state addenda, and postings that are current.
A handbook is the document a judge reads first. We write one that people at your company can follow, with a state addendum for each place you employ someone, and we keep it current through a twice-yearly review.
Typical work
- Handbook drafted or rewritten, with state addenda
- Leave, accommodation and pay-transparency policies
- Twice-yearly change review across every state on your payroll
- Manager training: two hours, recorded, with a written guide
Terms
From $6,800 fixed for up to 3 states
Reductions in force and restructuring
Selection, notice, agreements and the day itself.
The legal risk in a layoff is mostly settled in the selection spreadsheet, two weeks before anyone is told. We build that file with you, run the adverse impact analysis, check federal and state notice rules, and draft every agreement and script.
Typical work
- Selection criteria and adverse impact analysis
- WARN and state mini-WARN analysis
- Separation agreements with age-discrimination disclosures
- Talking points, timeline and a partner on call on the day
Terms
From $18,000 fixed for up to 150 affected employees
Workplace investigations
Complaints about conduct, investigated so the result holds.
When the complaint concerns a senior person, the investigation has to stand up in front of a board, a regulator and possibly a jury. We scope it in writing, interview quickly, and deliver findings a board can act on.
Typical work
- Harassment, discrimination and retaliation complaints
- Complaints concerning founders, executives and board members
- Whistleblower reports and internal audits
- Findings reports written for the board, with a privileged annex
Terms
Fixed scope, typically $14,000 to $32,000
Pay, classification and wage-and-hour
Who is an employee, who is exempt, and what they are owed.
Classification errors are the most expensive mistakes we see, because they compound every pay period. We audit contractor and exempt classifications, fix what needs fixing on a schedule you can afford, and defend agency audits.
Typical work
- Contractor and exemption audits under federal and state tests
- Reclassification plans with payroll and finance
- Pay-equity reviews under privilege
- State and federal wage audits
Terms
Audits from $9,500 fixed
Separations, disputes and agency charges
Hard exits, demand letters, charges and, when needed, court.
Most disputes we handle end before a complaint is filed. We answer demand letters on the facts, negotiate exits, respond to agency charges and, for the matters that should be tried, defend them through trial.
Typical work
- Negotiated exits for executives and long-tenured staff
- Responses to demand letters and EEOC or state agency charges
- Mediation and arbitration
- Litigation in state and federal court
Terms
Hourly, with a written budget for each phase
How we bill
We quote a fixed fee whenever the work can be scoped, which last year was 71% of it. Litigation is hourly, with a budget per phase that we revise in writing before we exceed it.
- Counsel retainer
- Up to 12 hours of partner-led advice. Unused hours roll over for one month.
- $4,200 a month
- Handbook, up to 3 states
- $11,500 for 4 to 12 states. Includes one round of revisions.
- $6,800 fixed
- Reduction in force
- Up to 150 affected employees, all agreements and the day itself.
- From $18,000 fixed
- Partner, hourly
- Senior associate $455. Associate $360. Paralegal $195.
- $640
Rates effective 1 October 2026. Every fixed fee is quoted in writing before work starts.