As Department Chair of the Labor and Employment department, Denise Drake is known for her creative and practical approach to employment law issues, as well as her sincere interest in helping employers improve their workplaces, proactively avoid litigation, and strategically defend lawsuits.
Denise has significant experience defending companies in discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage & hour, and ERISA matters, including class actions, collective actions, multi-plaintiff, and multi-defendant lawsuits. Denise has a strong track record of defeating nationwide class and collective action certification, including nationwide cases valued at more than $500 million.
Denise has obtained defense verdicts in single plaintiff trials and arbitrations involving:
- Sexual and racial harassment
- Sex, race, disability, and age discrimination
- Retaliation and whistleblower claims
Denise has also successfully obtained strategic dismissals or summary judgments in cases filed across the nation. While Denise counsels clients in many industries, she has extensive experience and knowledge that allows her to advise clients on unique issues pertaining to certain industries, including:
- Construction
- Energy
- Financial services
- Food and beverage
- Gaming
- Insurance
- Health care
- Legal
- Manufacturing
- Retail
- Utilities
Denise has been recognized by clients in industry media such as Chambers USA, a leading legal industry rankings organization:
- “Denise is known for her ‘fantastic client relations and great litigation skills.’ ‘She is very easy to work with, very responsive, and clearly an experienced litigator.’”
- “Denise Drake is singled out for her creativity and wealth of experience in employment litigation.”
- Clients describe Denise Drake as "a tough, tenacious and very smart lawyer. She prepares incredibly well and her work and results show that.” “[She] successfully defeated class certification … in a proposed wage and hour collective action.”
- “Denise … [is] an efficient and communicative lawyer who gets on with the job with a minimum of fuss.”