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Profile Picture

Karl G. Nelson

Karl
Nelson

Partner

CONTACT INFO

knelson@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 214.698.3203

FAX:+1 214.571.2945

Dallas

2001 Ross Avenue, Suite 2100, Dallas, TX 75201 USA

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PRACTICE

Labor and Employment Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Appellate and Constitutional Law Class Actions Crisis Management Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Litigation Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Innovation Trade Secrets

BIOGRAPHY

Karl Nelson is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Dallas office and a member of the firm’s Labor and Employment, Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, and Class Action Litigation Practice Groups.

Mr. Nelson is recognized by Chambers USA for his work as a Labor and Employment attorney in Texas, and he has been consistently recognized as one of The Best Lawyers in America® for Labor & Employment Litigation (2012-2023), including being named the 2019 Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers for Dallas Litigation – Labor and Employment.  Mr. Nelson is also ranked as among the Lawdragon 500 Leading Corporate Employment Layers.  A fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, Mr. Nelson counsels and represents clients in all aspects of federal and state employment regulation, labor relations, and compensation and benefits law.  He has extensive experience defending complex labor and benefit matters, including class and collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and comparable state laws.  He has successfully defended clients against a wide variety of claims including compliance with state and federal wage and hour laws; worker misclassification challenges; allegations of systemic age, race, disability and gender discrimination; “whistle-blower” retaliation; and breach of fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.  He also regularly advises and represents clients in connection with trade secret, competition, and employee-raiding issues.

Mr. Nelson has extensive experience representing clients before federal and state administrative agencies.  He has successfully represented employers before the Department of Labor in complex wage and hour and pension benefits investigations and in Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower retaliation cases, as well as before the EEOC in connection with charges of individual and class-wide discrimination. Mr. Nelson also frequently assists clients in conducting internal investigations of high-risk and high-profile matters such as those involving alleged misconduct by senior executives and corporate officers and allegations of whistle-blowing under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and similar laws.  Given the sensitive and high-profile nature of the matters he regularly handles, Mr. Nelson frequently works closely with in-house and outside resources to coordinate legal, investor relations, and media strategies and messaging.

Representative areas in which Mr. Nelson practices include:

  • Discrimination Class Actions – Mr. Nelson has successfully represented employers in industries including retail sales, manufacturing, defense, and transportation in class actions alleging discrimination in pay, promotion opportunities, and job assignments on the basis of race, sex, age, and disability. Recently, he participated as a core member of the team that redefined the legal standard for class certification in the U.S. Supreme Court’s watershed decision in Dukes, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
  • Class and Collective Wage and Hour Litigation –Mr. Nelson has successfully defended clients in class and collective actions alleging violation of federal and state wage and hour laws, including claims for uncompensated work time, improper pay at termination, and unlawful pay and vacation practices. He has also successfully litigated challenges based on alleged misclassification of workers, application of various overtime exemptions, and “joint employer” status arising from use of contract labor.
  • Employee Benefits Litigation – Mr. Nelson has successfully represented clients in a variety of industries, including retail, transportation, manufacturing, and defense in connection with both individual and class action claims alleging violation of fiduciary standards and other requirement of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. He was among the first to argue successfully for dismissal at the pleading stage of fiduciary breach and self-dealing claims in connection with ERISA “stock-drop” litigation.  g., Lalonde v. Textron, Inc., 270 F. Supp.2d 272 (D.R.I. June 24, 2003), aff’d in part, 369 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2004).  Most recently, he has represented several Fortune 500 clients in response to 401(k) plan “excessive fee” claims.
  • Administrative Proceedings and Investigations – Mr. Nelson has represented leading corporations in industries including financial products, retail, and consumer products when responding to high profile investigations by the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Engagements have included coordinating a leading retailer’s response to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and local law enforcement in connection with the crowd-trampling death of an employee, leading the response to an investigation by the DOL’s Employee Benefit and Security Administration into pension losses resulting from the financial collapse of a major U.S. conglomerate, and counseling one of the nation’s largest private employers in connection with an EEOC investigation calling into question the structure of its hourly pay plan.
  • Sensitive Internal Investigations – Mr. Nelson has represented clients across a wide variety of industries, including aviation, retail, building products, manufacturing, and hospitality, in sensitive internal investigations of possible misconduct such as employee theft of confidential information, whistle-blowing, sexual harassment, bribery, and corruption. In addition, he has led teams responding to sensitive investigations in a variety of non-employment contexts, including in response to investigations by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and to a high-profile outbreak of salmonella affecting the guests and staff of a major hotel.
  • Trade Secrets and Competition – Mr. Nelson frequently counsels and represents employers in connection with the protection of proprietary, confidential, and trade secret information and enforcement of restrictive covenants limiting post-employment competition, solicitation, and employee raiding. He has successfully litigated such matters to final judgments for clients in a variety of industries, including building products, manufacturing, restaurants and hospitality, healthcare, and financial management.
  • Statistical Workforce Analysis – Mr. Nelson has extensive experience assisting clients with the statistical analyses that are frequently at the heart of complex employment issues, including class discrimination claims, affirmative action policy and testing, and anticipating potential adverse impact patterns that may result from critical employment decisions. He regularly assists clients in evaluation of their pay and employee selection practices in furtherance of DEI initiatives and in order to respond to shareholder initiatives to increase reporting of such data.

Mr. Nelson regularly writes and speaks on employment, benefits, litigation, and data security topics.  He has served as an adjunct instructor in Human Resource Law and co-authored a software package for human resource professionals.  He is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Labor and Employment Law and the American Employment Law Council.  Mr. Nelson is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States and numerous federal appellate and district courts.

Mr. Nelson received his law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1991, graduating with high honors, and his B.B.A. in economics and business administration from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, graduating summa cum laude from the University Honors Program.

EDUCATION

Duke University - 1991 Juris Doctor

University of Wisconsin - 1987 B.A. Business Administration

ADMISSIONS

Texas Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Firm News - August 15, 2022 | Lawdragon 500 2022 Names 20 Gibson Dunn Partners Top Employment Lawyers
Client Alert - April 12, 2022 | OFCCP Guidance on Privilege Assertions Over Pay Equity Audit Materials
Client Alert - February 22, 2022 | 2021 ERISA Litigation Update
Client Alert - September 10, 2021 | President Biden Announces COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates, with Legal Challenges Likely to Follow
Client Alert - February 16, 2021 | 2020 Year-End Securities Litigation Update
Client Alert - February 11, 2021 | 2020 Year-End ERISA Disputes Update
Client Alert - August 10, 2020 | 2020 Mid-Year Securities Litigation Update
Webcasts - April 30, 2020 | Webcast: Returning to Work: Health, Employment, and Privacy Considerations and Constraints as Businesses Resume Post-Quarantine Operations in the U.S.
Client Alert - April 6, 2020 | Important Considerations in Implementing Workforce Furloughs
Client Alert - April 2, 2020 | Department of Labor Issues Temporary Regulations for Families First Coronavirus Response Act
Client Alert - March 26, 2020 | Department of Labor Issues Guidance on Families First Coronavirus Response Act
Client Alert - March 26, 2020 | Senate Advances the CARES Act, the Largest Stimulus Package in History, to Stabilize the Economic Sector During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Client Alert - March 16, 2020 | U.S. Employment Law Considerations for Companies Responding to COVID-19
Firm News - August 15, 2019 | Gibson Dunn Lawyers Recognized in the Best Lawyers in America® 2020
Firm News - August 15, 2018 | 20 Gibson Dunn Partners Named Lawyers of the Year
Webcasts - May 10, 2017 | Webcast: Labor & Employment Developments in the Trump Administration
Client Alert - May 11, 2016 | President Obama Signs Federal Trade Secrets Law
Article - March 15, 2016 | Addressing Open Carry Challenges For Texas Employers
Article - May 26, 2015 | Privacy and Data Security in Outsourcing
Client Alert - February 17, 2015 | Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Outlook and Review: 2015
Article - December 1, 2013 | Arbitration of Employment: Claims Challenges and Limits on Enforceability in Texas
Client Alert - September 19, 2012 | U.S. Senator Rockefeller Seeks Information on Cybersecurity from All Fortune 500 CEOs
Client Alert - August 1, 2012 | Law Firms and Cyber Security: A Titanic Risk
Client Alert - February 7, 2012 | 2011 Year-End Data Privacy and Security Update
Client Alert - December 1, 2011 | NLRB Approves Changes to Expedite Union Elections
Client Alert - April 2, 2010 | The Impact of U.S. Health Care Reform on Employers
Client Alert - July 16, 2009 | Webcast Briefing: Key Employee Departures to Competitors
Client Alert - June 30, 2009 | Supreme Court Narrows Circumstances in Which Employers May Modify Employment Decisions Based on Statistically Disparate Outcomes
Client Alert - January 9, 2009 | Labor and Employment Changes Expected in Obama Administration
Client Alert - October 30, 2006 | Texas Supreme Court Liberalizes Standard for Enforceability of Non-Compete Agreements
Client Alert - June 23, 2006 | Supreme Court Ruling Gives Broad Protection to Employees Claiming Retaliation Under Title VII
Client Alert - May 31, 2006 | Supreme Court’s Decision That Statements Made in the Course of Official Job Duties Are Not Protected Has Implications for Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Cases
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