Kelly, Jocelyn S.

Deb Sudbury has represented employers in a wide range of labor and employment-related disputes for more than 25 years. She is head of the Labor and Employment Practice in the Atlanta Office, and her cases include class action litigation, employment discrimination litigation, FLSA and wage-hour cases and collective actions, administrative proceedings, Sarbanes-Oxley claims and investigations, and noncompete and trade secret litigation. Deb has worked with labor economists and other experts to develop legal strategies that have led to the defeat of class certifications. She also has directed numerous high-stakes internal investigations regarding sexual harassment, misuse of corporate resources, and retaliation as examples. Deb has extensive jury and bench trial experience in both federal and state courts.

Deb recently represented a national retailer in wage-hour litigation and defended an international manufacturer against high-stakes class race charges. She also counseled several large defense contractors in defeating class certification in a race case and helped a Fortune 50 company craft a statistical strategy to defeat an age discrimination class.

Deb is regularly recognized as a leading labor and employment lawyer. She is a frequent speaker on employment law and class action topics and authored a book on plant closing laws and articles on employment law issues.

She is active in a wide variety of local civic and charitable organizations, including Leadership Atlanta, Communities in Schools, the Woodruff Arts Center, the Atlanta College of Art, the Hambidge Center, and the Atlanta International School.