Karen L. Corman

Corman defends employers in federal and state court and agency proceedings in wage and hour individual and class action, discrimination, harassment and wrongful discharge litigation. In addition, she handles arbitration and mediation cases and advises clients on internal investigations and executive severance negotiations.

Her practice also advises on structuring the highly complex employment aspects of global transactions, which requires maneuvering through country-specific rules and regulations, including procedures for hiring and terminating workers, the negotiation of new collective bargaining agreements and the assumption of existing agreements.

Technology has simplified things somewhat, she said, including reducing the amount of time spent in travel.

"When Disney acquired Lucasfilm a few years ago," she recalled of the $4 billion deal in 2012, in which she helped handle the transaction's employment aspects for The Walt Disney Co., "everything was on paper and due diligence required us to go to Lucas' ranch in Northern California to see it."

Seven years later, most everything she needs to see is digitized.

For Yahoo Inc., Corman played a key role in the $4.5 billion sale of its operating business to Verizon Communications Inc.

Corman and her team advised Wells Fargo Bank N.A. in connection with a proposed $1.2 billion carve-out sale of its institutional retirement and trust business to an affiliate of Principal Financial Group Inc., a deal announced in April. She said she worked closely with in-house counsel and human resources officials in structuring the proposed transition to the purchaser of more than 2,000 full time employees and contractors in the U.S., India and the Philippines.

"That is one of the more complex carve outs," Corman said. "It's not just flipping a switch, from a labor and employment standpoint. There are different legal regimes in India and the Philippines, and the challenge is to make the transition without disrupting operations."

-- John Roemer