Carmen J. Cole

A former human resources executive, Cole litigates employment matters, including disability discrimination, whistleblower retaliation and employee mobility cases.

But her practice has changed over the last year or so, she said. Her mobility practice has grown, and it has expanded across the country. “It’s not California-centric anymore. I’ve been pro hac’d in the last year into four or five jurisdictions to handle litigation,” she said. “The clients I do work with are global.”

She has taken on litigation in Minnesota, Ohio and Kentucky and represented companies including United Parcel Service Inc., trucking giant Swift Transportation and Humana Inc. She represents that health insurance company in two matters in Ohio, one in arbitration and one in federal court. United HealthCare Services Inc. v. Corzine, 2:21-cv-00319 (S.D. OH, filed Jan. 24, 2021).

The employee mobility litigation generally settles. “A resolution in those types of cases is victory. Litigation is hard because you win big or you lose big.”

Cole said she spends more of her time, however, advising clients about ways to hire competitors’ employees without violating restrictive covenants and noncompete clauses. “A large part of it is carving out what the new executive can do and can’t do and the length of time for which they can do it,” she said.

A much more dramatic change to her practice followed the murder of George Floyd. Many clients now ask her for advice and counsel regarding equity and social justice issues, which is new for her.

Clients used to ask how to avoid violating anti-discrimination laws. Now they want to do that while at the same time take actions and make corporate statements to advance racial and social equity. “There’s this very delicate balance that I haven’t experienced thus far in my practice,” Cole said.

And they want more than her legal knowledge. “I think it’s a combination of the two, my legal experience … but also my lived experience as a person of color.”

Much of what she tells them is common sense to her. “I think sometimes clients might not know where even to begin on a subject like this,” she said. “A lot of it is just pointing them in the right direction and making suggestions and giving them options.”

She might suggest ways clients could change their websites and marketing. She also likes to propose reverse mentoring, where a young woman or person of color advises an older executive.

“Especially as a woman of color, I’ve been very encouraged to see so many institutional and corporate clients wanting to move the needle in the right direction on that subject.”

Away from work, Cole serves on the board of advisors for the Caruso School of Law at Pepperdine University as well as the board of St. John’s Well Child and Family Clinic.

— Don DeBenedictis