Donna M. Melby

For a multijurisdictional practice like Melby’s, procedure can be just as important and as challenging as the ins and outs of the law while defending companies from whistleblower accusations, wrongful termination suits, and other employment disputes.

“There’s a multitude of different rules with different judges in different jurisdictions, and sometimes there’s a different way of doing business in certain states or even different judges even in the same district,” she said. “They can be small, but so important because the failure to note them or to comply with them in even the smallest way could have significant impact on the outcome of the matter.”

For one client, Melby has appeared in five different states.

“It’s all part of doing the job for your client, and it’s all part of handling the defense of the case,” she said. “So, it’s part of the delivery of client service excellence in every case and that means knowing the rules.”

In fact, Melby said she really enjoys that part of the job.

“It has allowed me to experience in a national way the way in which different jurists approach their dockets, their cases, their courtrooms, how they deal with the lawyers, and it’s been an absolute pleasure,” she said.

No matter the court, the key to employment defense remains humanizing the client. That can be a challenge with executives and multimillion-dollar corporations. Melby said juries need to be shown that companies are made of people like them.

“A company is only the people that make it up. It is the people that make it up,” she said. “A company is human because without the people it doesn’t exist. So I think it’s simply an appreciation of good people making up good companies.” In the age of increased public scrutiny and #MeToo allegations, she also said a major component of her practice is advisory, helping companies limit exposure and conduct themselves well.

“You absolutely need to be proactive, to make sure that employees always know that it is a positive working environment where management cares about the culture, and the well-being of the employees. And it’s important to do that in a way that employees see and feel it on a day-to-day basis.”

Public scrutiny acknowledged, Melby said that the facts of any case still reign supreme; they have to.

“At the end of the day the facts and the circumstances surrounding the particular case and particular individual involved are what have to matter. The focus has to be on that. Those are the things that we need to use to persuade the jurors towards the right result.”

— Andy Serbe