Employment Law Update

John Coleman III Related Seminars and Products

Burr & Forman L.L.P.

John Coleman has practiced management-side labor and employment law for over 40 years. A 1978 magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, a 1981 graduate of Duke University School of Law, and a 1981-82 law clerk to US Circuit Judge Donald S. Russell, and the 1997-8 Chair of the Alabama State Bar Labor and Employment Law Section, John since 2006 John has been a fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and since 2017 a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.   He was rated Chambers Partners’ Labor and Employment Law Band 1, and chosen for LawDragon’s Nation’s 100 Most Powerful Labor and Employment Lawyers and its successor for 15 years, for Best Lawyers in America for over 30 years, and for every edition of SuperLawyers and five times a top 50 Alabama pick. Counsel for clients in precedential labor and employment cases and for client groups in drafting both sets of ADA and FMLA regulations, the 1992 Alabama Workers Compensation Act, and state drug testing rules, he has authored 3 employment law books, over a dozen legal articles, holds two adjunct law positions, and has provided annual Title VII CLE updates since 1985.

Heather N. Leonard Related Seminars and Products

Heather Leonard PC

Ms. Leonard is a partner with the Birmingham law firm of Heather Leonard, P.C., where she concentrates her practice on labor and employment law, including litigation before the federal and state courts as well as administrative agencies. Her practice embraces a variety of matters relating to wage and hour law, harassment, invasion of privacy and employment discrimination. She is also adjunct faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she teaches mediation and trial advocacy, and serves as an assistant coach for the UAB Mock Trial Team. Ms. Leonard received her B.A. from the University of Kentucky and her J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law, where she was the Managing Editor for the Law and Psychology Review and a member of the National Moot Court Team. She is a member of the Alabama bar and various state and local bar associations.

Donald M. Harrison III Related Seminars and Products

Porter Porter & Hassinger, P.C.

Don Harrison recently rejoined the law firm of Porter, Porter & Hassinger, P.C. in Birmingham, where he focuses on administrative and governmental law, wage and hour, labor and employment, civil litigation, and workers’ compensation. He previously served as Acting Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and, before that, held multiple senior roles with the Alabama Department of Workforce/Labor, including General Counsel, Deputy Secretary, Director of Government Relations, and Acting Director of the Mining and Reclamation Division.

Sigfredo Rubio Related Seminars and Products

Rubio Law Firm

Freddy Rubio is the founder of Rubio Law Firm, P.C., established with a mission to serve Alabama’s Hispanic community. With offices in Birmingham, Alabama, and Norcross, Georgia, his practice centers on civil litigation and trial work, focusing on auto accidents, wrongful death, and business disputes. He also represents clients in complex criminal matters and is currently defending two clients charged with capital murder. Mr. Rubio is licensed to practice law in both Alabama and Georgia.

In addition to his practice, Mr. Rubio has taught Trial Advocacy as an adjunct professor at Cumberland School of Law. He previously served as Legal Counsel to both the Birmingham City Council and the City of Tarrant, and he is frequently invited to speak to fellow attorneys on trial strategy and litigation techniques.
Mr. Rubio is a Sustaining Member of the Alabama Association for Justice and serves as a Bar Commissioner with the Alabama State Bar. He also sits on the Boards of Directors for the Alabama Wildlife Center and Voices for Children of Alabama. His long-standing commitment to public service includes leadership roles on numerous nonprofit and civic organizations, including a decade of service on the National Board of the ACLU.
 

Stephen Walsh Related Seminars and Products

Walsh Law Firm LLC

Stephen Walsh has advised companies and their officers, directors, and owners on business and employment matters for over twenty-five years. In 2025, he founded the Walsh Law Firm, LLC based in Birmingham, Alabama. Stephen is licensed in Alabama and Texas, and his practice focuses on the representation of businesses and executives in commercial, consumer, and employment matters, particularly involving the financial services, real estate, and manufacturing industries. Stephen is an experienced transaction and litigation attorney. He received his B.S. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Alabama. While in law school, Stephen was a Hugo L. Black Scholar. He is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Litigation-Banking & Finance, Employment Law-Management, Litigation-Labor & Employment, and Commercial Litigation, and he has been named to the Birmingham Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar.”

John D. Saxon Related Seminars and Products

John D. Saxon PC

John Saxon received his B.A., With Honors, from The University of Alabama and his J. D. from The University of Alabama School of Law, which, in 2008, awarded him the Sam W. Pipes Award as its outstanding alumnus.  He received an M.A. in speech communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Program of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.  In 1978, he was named the first White House Fellow from Alabama, serving as a Special Assistant to Vice President Walter Mondale. He later served as Counsel to the Subcommittee on Jurisprudence and Governmental Relations of the U. S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary; Counsel to the U. S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics; Associate Counsel, then Staff Director, to the U. S. Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition (“Iran-Contra Committee”); then Special Counsel, U. S. Senate Armed Services Committee.  He has worked in the Washington offices of two Fortune 50 companies, RCA and General Electric.  Since 1995, he has been Managing Partner of John D. Saxon, P.C.  From 2018-2021 he was a Deputy Attorney General of the State of Alabama, and is a former Adjunct Professor at the Washington College of Law at American University, where he taught Legal Ethics.  He is past Chairman of the Labor and Employment Section of the State Bar and was the first Chairman of the Federal Practice Section of the Birmingham Bar Association.  He serves on the Board of Legal Services Alabama, is a Member of the Alabama Law Institute, is on the Board of Governors of The University of Alabama Law School Foundation, and is on the Board of NELA-Alabama. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 2009, which in 2012, 2019, and 2021 named him Lawyer of the Year, Labor and Employment Law—Individuals, and in 2018, 2019, and 2024 named him Lawyer of the Year, Civil Rights Law.  He has been listed in Alabama Super Lawyers since 2008, and from 2011-2016 and 2018-2021 was listed as one of the Top 50 Alabama Super Lawyers. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow of the Alabama Law Foundation, and a Life Fellow of both the American Bar Foundation and the Birmingham Bar Foundation. He has twice been President of the White House Fellows Association and Foundation, which in 2022 awarded him the John W. Gardner Legacy of Leadership Award as its Outstanding Alumnus. He served on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships under Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.  A graduate of both Leadership Birmingham and Leadership Alabama, he is currently Vice President of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, the world’s largest, and will become President in 2025.  He is on the boards of numerous organizations, including the Blackburn Institute, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, the Leadership Birmingham Alumni Council,  and the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, and is currently President of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham Foundation.

Judge Madeline Haikala Related Seminars and Products

US District Court - Northern District of Alabama

President Barack Obama appointed Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in 2013.  Prior to her appointment to the district court, Judge Haikala served as a Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Alabama for one year.  Before taking the bench, Judge Haikala practiced law for more than two decades with the Birmingham, Alabama law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, where she specialized in trial and appellate work.  Judge Haikala has served as an adjunct professor at Cumberland School of Law, and she has held leadership roles in a variety of professional and community organizations.  Judge Haikala graduated from Williams College in 1986 with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology.  She received her juris doctor degree in 1989 from Tulane University Law School, where she graduated magna cum laude.