K&L Gates Enhances Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety Practice With Dallas Partner Addition

Dallas – Global law firm K&L Gates LLP has added Brent Hockaday as a partner in the Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety practice area. He joins the firm’s Dallas office from Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP.

With more than a decade of legal experience, Hockaday focuses his practice on strategic employment counseling, litigation, trade secret disputes, and defending employers against individual and class action claims. He routinely serves clients in a range of industries including technology, financial services, healthcare, and insurance, among others. Hockaday has successfully won dismissals of charges filed before various federal, state, and local administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Texas Workforce Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in labor and employment law, Hockaday works closely with chief legal officers, corporate counsel, and human resource executives to provide advisement and consulting to guide them through complex employment-related disputes and regulations. Hockaday’s practice focuses on the prevention of legal disputes as well as the strategic compliance of existing employment law in state and federal jurisdictions.

Rosemary Alito, a leader of the firm’s Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety practice area, commented: “Brent brings deep experience with Texas and federal employment law that will enhance our service to clients and provide on the ground assistance in Texas, both in avoiding issues and resolving them when they do arise. We are thrilled to have Brent join our global team.”

“We are excited for Brent to join K&L Gates’ Dallas office and for him to help grow our labor and employment practice across Texas and beyond,” said Beth Petronio, managing partner of K&L Gates’ Dallas office. “Brent brings a very positive, client-focused energy and a broad base of experience. He will be an excellent addition to the Dallas office.”

Hockaday’s arrival follows other additions to K&L Gates in Texas across a number of practices in the past year, including partners Drew Tedford (Public Policy and Law) and Virginia Peters (Corporate), counsel Michelle Boudreau and Laura Braasch (Corporate), as well as government affairs advisor John Northington Jr. (Public Policy and Law).

K&L Gates’ presence in Texas spans more than 50 years with offices in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston. Collectively, the firm’s lawyers in Texas provide comprehensive legal services to public and private businesses across all industry sectors on national and international matters, in addition to those involving Texas-specific law.

Lawyers in K&L Gates’ Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety practice and Global Employer Solutions area advise domestic and international clients in the technology, pharmaceuticals, retail, banking, manufacturing, hospitality, transportation, broadcasting, construction, mining, energy, financial services, and health care industries, among others, on a variety of regional and cross-border labor and employment issues. With more than 200 lawyers, K&L Gates’ Global Employer Solutions team counsels corporations and entities across numerous countries and jurisdictions in meeting the challenges of their global business needs. The practice also publishes its annual Global Employer Guide, which offers a concise, easy-to-read summary of employment law across numerous countries.